California Public Employees Retirement System Sells 57,719 Shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB

California Public Employees Retirement System reduced its position in W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) by 4.9% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,119,552 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 57,719 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System’s holdings in W.R. Berkley were worth $85,780,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of WRB. Johnson Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in W.R. Berkley by 22.3% in the third quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. now owns 756 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $58,000 after acquiring an additional 138 shares during the period. Maridea Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in W.R. Berkley by 2.0% in the third quarter. Maridea Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,180 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $528,000 after purchasing an additional 141 shares during the last quarter. Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley by 40.2% during the 3rd quarter. Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 523 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares during the period. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of W.R. Berkley by 3.3% during the 3rd quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 4,788 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $367,000 after purchasing an additional 151 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Crestwood Advisors Group LLC increased its position in shares of W.R. Berkley by 4.3% during the 3rd quarter. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC now owns 3,881 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $297,000 after purchasing an additional 160 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on WRB. Morgan Stanley set a $73.00 price objective on shares of W.R. Berkley in a report on Wednesday, January 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of W.R. Berkley from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 6th. TD Cowen downgraded shares of W.R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “sell” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $77.00 to $55.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on shares of W.R. Berkley from $75.00 to $70.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $69.67.

Insider Activity

In related news, major shareholder Sumitomo Insurance Co L. Mitsui acquired 112,176 shares of W.R. Berkley stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 3rd. The shares were purchased at an average price of $72.20 per share, for a total transaction of $8,099,107.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 58,780,450 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,243,948,490. This represents a 0.19% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders have purchased a total of 9,933,862 shares of company stock worth $688,134,108 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 23.00% of the company’s stock.

W.R. Berkley Price Performance

Shares of W.R. Berkley stock opened at $68.51 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $25.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.40, a PEG ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 0.35. The company has a quick ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $69.46 and its 200-day simple moving average is $72.08. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a 52 week low of $62.63 and a 52 week high of $78.96.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last released its earnings results on Monday, January 26th. The insurance provider reported $1.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.14 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $3.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.18 billion. W.R. Berkley had a return on equity of 18.17% and a net margin of 12.10%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.13 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W.R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 4th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 23rd were issued a dividend of $0.09 per share. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 23rd. W.R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.09%.

W.R. Berkley Company Profile

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.