W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) Shares Sold by New York State Common Retirement Fund

New York State Common Retirement Fund cut its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 6.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 403,013 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 28,500 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned 0.11% of W. R. Berkley worth $23,584,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. PFS Partners LLC grew its position in W. R. Berkley by 51.1% during the 3rd quarter. PFS Partners LLC now owns 719 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 243 shares during the last quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley during the fourth quarter worth about $42,000. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV grew its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 108.1% during the third quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 801 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $45,000 after buying an additional 416 shares during the last quarter. Coastline Trust Co acquired a new position in W. R. Berkley in the 3rd quarter valued at about $47,000. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new stake in W. R. Berkley during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $48,000. 68.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $63.00 target price on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. StockNews.com cut shares of W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, W. R. Berkley has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $64.36.

W. R. Berkley Stock Performance

Shares of WRB stock opened at $61.01 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $23.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 0.67. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $59.21 and a 200-day simple moving average of $59.18. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 12-month low of $50.73 and a 12-month high of $65.49. The company has a current ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 27th. The insurance provider reported $1.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.95 by $0.18. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 20.83% and a net margin of 12.88%. On average, equities analysts forecast that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.33 EPS for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th were paid a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. W. R. Berkley’s payout ratio is currently 7.33%.

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.