California Public Employees Retirement System Sells 47,235 Shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

California Public Employees Retirement System decreased its position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 3.2% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 1,435,630 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 47,235 shares during the quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $84,013,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Whipplewood Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley in the 4th quarter valued at about $35,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in W. R. Berkley in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Crowley Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in W. R. Berkley in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $59,000. Tortoise Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 69.9% during the 4th quarter. Tortoise Investment Management LLC now owns 1,313 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $77,000 after acquiring an additional 540 shares during the period. Finally, Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley during the 4th quarter valued at $79,000. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on WRB. Morgan Stanley began coverage on W. R. Berkley in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $65.00 price objective for the company. Barclays upped their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $63.00 target price on shares of W. R. Berkley in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $64.36.

W. R. Berkley Stock Down 0.1 %

WRB stock opened at $71.18 on Tuesday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $61.93 and a 200-day moving average of $60.28. W. R. Berkley Co. has a fifty-two week low of $50.73 and a fifty-two week high of $76.38. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.31, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 0.36 and a quick ratio of 0.36.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The insurance provider reported $1.13 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.95 by $0.18. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.88% and a return on equity of 20.83%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.45%. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.34%.

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.