New York State Common Retirement Fund Reduces Holdings in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

New York State Common Retirement Fund reduced its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) by 5.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 352,332 shares of the insurance provider's stock after selling 20,110 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned 0.14% of W. R. Berkley worth $24,917,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in WRB. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 612.2% during the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 1,006,528 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $63,904,000 after purchasing an additional 865,205 shares in the last quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System lifted its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 213.9% during the third quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 1,147,961 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $72,884,000 after purchasing an additional 782,280 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 14.2% during the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,639,296 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $358,039,000 after purchasing an additional 699,297 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 4.2% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 13,065,224 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $829,511,000 after purchasing an additional 529,817 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley during the third quarter valued at about $20,205,000. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com raised shares of W. R. Berkley from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday. Truist Financial lowered their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $95.00 to $93.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $81.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $99.00 to $94.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $83.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, W. R. Berkley currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $90.63.

W. R. Berkley Stock Performance

Shares of WRB traded down $1.26 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $76.65. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,435,377 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,438,617. The company has a market cap of $19.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.59, a PEG ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 0.37 and a quick ratio of 0.37. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $84.26 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $76.41. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 52-week low of $55.50 and a 52-week high of $89.18.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The insurance provider reported $1.56 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.46 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $2.76 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.77 billion. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.23% and a return on equity of 21.01%. The company's revenue was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.00 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 13th. Investors of record on Monday, March 4th were paid a dividend of $0.11 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 1st. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.57%. W. R. Berkley's dividend payout ratio is currently 7.80%.

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.