State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Reduces Position in W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB

Key Points

• The State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D reduced its stake in W.R. Berkley Corporation by 9.4%, holding 98,268 shares valued at approximately $6.99 million after selling 10,153 shares.
• W.R. Berkley reported strong earnings with an EPS of $1.05, surpassing expectations of $1.03, while also announcing a quarterly dividend increase to $0.09.
• Analysts have mixed views on W.R. Berkley, with a current consensus rating of "Hold" and a price target averaging $72.54.

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D lessened its position in W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) by 9.4% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 98,268 shares of the insurance provider's stock after selling 10,153 shares during the quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D's holdings in W.R. Berkley were worth $6,993,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Spectrum Wealth Counsel LLC bought a new stake in shares of W.R. Berkley in the 1st quarter worth about $29,000. Garde Capital Inc. bought a new stake in shares of W.R. Berkley in the 1st quarter worth about $30,000. Optiver Holding B.V. lifted 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 last quarter. N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of W.R. Berkley in the 1st quarter worth about $36,000. Finally, Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC bought a new stake in W.R. Berkley during the 4th quarter valued at about $37,000. Institutional investors own 68.82% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WRB has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered shares of W.R. Berkley from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $74.00 to $76.00 in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. TD Cowen lowered shares of W.R. Berkley from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $78.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Friday, June 27th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on shares of W.R. Berkley from $65.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Monday, May 19th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of W.R. Berkley from $62.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a report on Monday, July 7th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of W.R. Berkley from $78.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $72.54.

W.R. Berkley Stock Up 1.4%

Shares of W.R. Berkley stock traded up $1.0350 on Wednesday, reaching $72.5950. The stock had a trading volume of 1,281,951 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,994,146. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $70.66 and a 200 day moving average price of $68.57. The company has a quick ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a 1 year low of $55.80 and a 1 year high of $76.38. The stock has a market capitalization of $27.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.54, a P/E/G ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 0.39.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results 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. The company had revenue of $3.10 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.10 billion. W.R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.32% and a return on equity of 18.83%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.04 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 EPS for the current year.

W.R. Berkley Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 23rd were given a dividend of $0.09 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 23rd. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. This is a boost from W.R. Berkley's previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. W.R. Berkley's payout ratio is presently 8.20%.

About W.R. Berkley

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.