New York State Common Retirement Fund Sells 247,200 Shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB)

New York State Common Retirement Fund lessened its stake in W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) by 61.3% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 155,813 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 247,200 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund’s holdings in W.R. Berkley were worth $11,088,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in WRB. Optiver Holding B.V. boosted its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley by 107.3% during 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. Garde Capital Inc. purchased a new position in shares of W.R. Berkley during the 1st quarter worth $30,000. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC purchased a new position in shares of W.R. Berkley during the 4th quarter worth $37,000. Colonial Trust Co SC boosted its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley by 79.9% during the 4th quarter. Colonial Trust Co SC now owns 822 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $48,000 after acquiring an additional 365 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Crowley Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of W.R. Berkley during the 4th quarter valued at $59,000. Institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

W.R. Berkley Stock Up 0.9%

Shares of WRB stock opened at $68.76 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $26.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.95, a PEG ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 0.41. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a 52 week low of $51.41 and a 52 week high of $76.38. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $72.21 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $66.77.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.01 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.08 by ($0.07). W.R. Berkley had a return on equity of 19.66% and a net margin of 12.43%. The company had revenue of $3.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.01 billion. Analysts predict that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W.R. Berkley Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 23rd were issued a $0.09 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 23rd. This is an increase from W.R. Berkley’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.52%. W.R. Berkley’s payout ratio is 8.35%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on WRB. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on shares of W.R. Berkley from $57.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, April 11th. TD Cowen cut shares of W.R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $78.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Truist Financial lifted their target price on shares of W.R. Berkley from $68.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group cut shares of W.R. Berkley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $74.00 to $76.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on shares of W.R. Berkley from $65.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, May 19th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $72.00.

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.