Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky Has $1.65 Million Stock Holdings in W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB)

Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky raised its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) by 32.7% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 23,253 shares of the insurance provider's stock after acquiring an additional 5,726 shares during the quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky's holdings in W.R. Berkley were worth $1,654,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 36,436,473 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $2,132,262,000 after buying an additional 529,294 shares in the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in W.R. Berkley by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 11,722,476 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $685,999,000 after purchasing an additional 116,957 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in W.R. Berkley by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,694,703 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $449,168,000 after purchasing an additional 103,350 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in W.R. Berkley by 21.8% during the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 5,022,039 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $357,368,000 after purchasing an additional 900,071 shares during the last quarter. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its holdings in W.R. Berkley by 15.2% during the 4th quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 4,787,361 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $280,156,000 after purchasing an additional 632,578 shares during the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

W.R. Berkley Price Performance

Shares of WRB traded up $0.41 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $68.95. 1,370,163 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,356,825. The company has a market cap of $26.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.71, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.41. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $52.64 and a fifty-two week high of $76.38. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The firm's fifty day moving average is $71.93 and its 200 day moving average is $67.06.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.05 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.03 by $0.02. W.R. Berkley had a return on equity of 19.22% and a net margin of 12.32%. The business had revenue of $3.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.10 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.04 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W.R. Berkley Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Monday, June 23rd were given a dividend of $0.09 per share. This is an increase from W.R. Berkley's previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 23rd. W.R. Berkley's dividend payout ratio is currently 8.20%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WRB has been the subject of several analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on W.R. Berkley from $65.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Monday, May 19th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on W.R. Berkley from $57.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, April 11th. TD Cowen lowered W.R. Berkley from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $78.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Wall Street Zen cut W.R. Berkley from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on W.R. Berkley from $71.00 to $68.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $71.75.

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.