Kentucky Retirement Systems Buys 5,724 Shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Kentucky Retirement Systems grew its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 37.6% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 20,944 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 5,724 shares during the quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems’ holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $1,188,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of WRB. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. increased its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 51.0% in the 3rd quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. now owns 619 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 209 shares in the last quarter. PFS Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 51.1% in the third quarter. PFS Partners LLC now owns 719 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after buying an additional 243 shares during the period. Quarry LP bought a new position in W. R. Berkley in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV boosted its position in W. R. Berkley by 108.1% during the 3rd 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 period. Finally, Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. grew its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 49.9% during the 2nd quarter. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. now owns 580 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $46,000 after acquiring an additional 193 shares during the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on WRB. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. StockNews.com raised W. R. Berkley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Truist Financial upped their price target on W. R. Berkley from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $59.00 to $58.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $63.08.

W. R. Berkley Stock Performance

NYSE:WRB opened at $60.83 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. W. R. Berkley Co. has a twelve month low of $45.75 and a twelve month high of $61.96. The company has a fifty day moving average of $58.46 and a 200-day moving average of $56.21. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.60, a P/E/G ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 0.62.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $2.93 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.93 billion. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 11.96% and a return on equity of 20.41%. The business’s revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.90 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 3.96 EPS for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 23rd were issued a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 23rd. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.53%. W. R. Berkley’s payout ratio is currently 8.21%.

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.