Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Decreases Stake in W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio cut its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) by 25.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 65,442 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 21,898 shares during the quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio’s holdings in W.R. Berkley were worth $4,337,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of WRB. Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of W.R. Berkley during the 4th quarter worth approximately $3,542,919,000. Norges Bank purchased a new position in W.R. Berkley during the fourth quarter worth approximately $435,752,000. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its stake in W.R. Berkley by 35,572.5% during the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 2,219,902 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $155,660,000 after buying an additional 2,213,679 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in W.R. Berkley by 33.4% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,892,799 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $374,886,000 after buying an additional 1,224,363 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its holdings in W.R. Berkley by 70.7% in the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,754,383 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $193,137,000 after buying an additional 1,140,349 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WRB has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of W.R. Berkley from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $71.00 to $73.00 in a research note on Monday, June 8th. Truist Financial raised their price target on shares of W.R. Berkley from $78.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 21st. Oppenheimer set a $70.00 price target on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research report on Tuesday, July 21st. Atlantic Securities set a $74.00 price objective on W.R. Berkley in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Finally, Bank of America reissued an “underperform” rating and set a $68.00 target price (down from $74.00) on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and six have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $70.94.

W.R. Berkley Trading Down 0.6%

WRB opened at $75.69 on Thursday. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a 52 week low of $62.87 and a 52 week high of $78.96. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $69.64 and a 200-day simple moving average of $68.57. The firm has a market cap of $28.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.54, a P/E/G ratio of 3.52 and a beta of 0.29. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 20th. The insurance provider reported $1.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.08 by $0.19. W.R. Berkley had a return on equity of 19.49% and a net margin of 12.94%.The firm had revenue of $3.72 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.28 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.05 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.78 earnings per share for the current year.

W.R. Berkley Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 23rd were paid a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. This is a positive change from W.R. Berkley’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.09. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 23rd. W.R. Berkley’s payout ratio is presently 8.21%.

About W.R. Berkley

W. R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE: WRB) is a publicly traded insurance holding company that underwrites and sells commercial property and casualty insurance, specialty insurance products, and reinsurance. Headquartered in Greenwich, Connecticut, the company operates a portfolio of underwriting businesses that focus on niche and specialty commercial risks, offering coverage tailored to industries such as transportation, construction, professional services and other commercial lines.

The company’s product mix includes primary and excess casualty, property, professional liability, environmental and other specialty lines, together with treaty and facultative reinsurance solutions.