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

New York State Common Retirement Fund lowered its stake in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 5.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 352,332 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 20,110 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $24,917,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Ballentine Partners LLC grew its position in W. R. Berkley by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 9,180 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $649,000 after acquiring an additional 147 shares in the last quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC grew its position in W. R. Berkley by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 17,244 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,220,000 after acquiring an additional 148 shares in the last quarter. Claro Advisors LLC grew its position in W. R. Berkley by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Claro Advisors LLC now owns 9,832 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $695,000 after acquiring an additional 156 shares in the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC grew its position in W. R. Berkley by 5.2% in the fourth quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 3,511 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $248,000 after acquiring an additional 175 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allworth Financial LP grew its position in W. R. Berkley by 18.6% in the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,130 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $80,000 after acquiring an additional 177 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

W. R. Berkley Stock Down 1.6 %

Shares of WRB stock opened at $76.65 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $84.26 and a 200 day moving average of $76.31. The company has a current ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. The stock has a market cap of $19.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.59, a P/E/G ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 0.57. W. R. Berkley Co. has a twelve month low of $55.50 and a twelve month high of $89.18.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The insurance provider reported $1.56 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.46 by $0.10. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 21.01% and a net margin of 12.23%. The company had revenue of $2.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.77 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.00 earnings per share. W. R. Berkley’s quarterly revenue was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 5.89 EPS for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WRB has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on W. R. Berkley from $99.00 to $94.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. StockNews.com upgraded W. R. Berkley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $85.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $86.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $81.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, W. R. Berkley presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $90.63.

W. R. Berkley Company 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.