California State Teachers Retirement System Cuts Holdings in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

California State Teachers Retirement System decreased its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) by 4.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 413,013 shares of the insurance provider's stock after selling 17,570 shares during the period. California State Teachers Retirement System owned approximately 0.11% of W. R. Berkley worth $24,170,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Pullen Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Pullen Investment Management LLC now owns 22,954 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $1,343,000 after acquiring an additional 161 shares during the period. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 5,289 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $310,000 after acquiring an additional 188 shares during the period. Optiver Holding B.V. grew its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 107.3% in the 4th quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. now owns 427 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 221 shares during the period. Private Advisor Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 21,588 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $1,263,000 after acquiring an additional 257 shares during the period. Finally, Freedom Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Freedom Investment Management Inc. now owns 8,782 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $514,000 after acquiring an additional 261 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.82% of the company's stock.

W. R. Berkley Trading Up 0.9%

Shares of WRB stock traded up $0.68 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $74.64. 4,276,324 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,767,948. W. R. Berkley Co. has a fifty-two week low of $51.17 and a fifty-two week high of $76.38. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $70.53 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $64.18. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The stock has a market cap of $28.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.11, a PEG ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.44.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.08 by ($0.07). W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 20.83% and a net margin of 12.88%. The business had revenue of $3.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.01 billion. Equities analysts expect that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently issued reports on WRB. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on W. R. Berkley from $65.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Monday, May 19th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on W. R. Berkley from $63.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, May 19th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, April 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered W. R. Berkley from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating and upped their target price for the company from $74.00 to $76.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on W. R. Berkley from $52.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Friday, April 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $70.64.

W. R. Berkley Profile

W. R. Berkley Corporation, an insurance holding company, operates as a commercial lines writers worldwide. It operates in two segments, Insurance and Reinsurance & Monoline Excess. The Insurance segment underwrites commercial insurance business, including excess and surplus lines, admitted lines, and specialty personal lines.