California Public Employees Retirement System Raises Holdings in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

California Public Employees Retirement System increased its stake in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) by 3.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,184,407 shares of the insurance provider's stock after acquiring an additional 36,446 shares during the quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System owned about 0.46% of W. R. Berkley worth $83,761,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in WRB. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley during the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust boosted its position in W. R. Berkley by 106.1% in the third quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 406 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 209 shares during the last quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 132.6% during the 3rd quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 414 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 236 shares during the last quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley during the 3rd quarter worth $27,000. Finally, Lindbrook Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 70.6% in the 4th quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 580 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 240 shares during the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

W. R. Berkley Price Performance

W. R. Berkley stock traded up $0.06 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $77.91. 1,851,496 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,266,824. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $84.47 and a 200-day moving average price of $76.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a current ratio of 0.37. The stock has a market cap of $19.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 0.57. W. R. Berkley Co. has a one year low of $55.50 and a one year high of $89.18.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The insurance provider reported $1.56 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.46 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $2.76 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.77 billion. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 21.01% and a net margin of 12.23%. W. R. Berkley's quarterly revenue was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.00 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 5.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 4th were paid a dividend of $0.11 per share. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.56%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 1st. W. R. Berkley's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.80%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WRB has been the topic of a number of research reports. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $83.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. UBS Group upped their price target on W. R. Berkley from $81.00 to $93.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. Truist Financial decreased their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $95.00 to $93.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $88.00 to $86.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $99.00 to $94.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, W. R. Berkley has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $90.63.

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.