New York State Teachers Retirement System Has $14.88 Million Stock Position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

New York State Teachers Retirement System lowered its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 10.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 254,213 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 29,384 shares during the period. New York State Teachers Retirement System’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $14,877,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. PFS Partners LLC boosted its stake in W. R. Berkley by 51.1% during the third quarter. PFS Partners LLC now owns 719 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 243 shares in the last quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV lifted its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 108.1% during the third quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 801 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $45,000 after acquiring an additional 416 shares during the period. Coastline Trust Co bought a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley during the third quarter valued at $47,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 45.6% during the third quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 843 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $48,000 after acquiring an additional 264 shares during the period. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group bought a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley during the third quarter valued at $48,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WRB has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Bank of America lifted their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on W. R. Berkley from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Barclays lifted their price target on W. R. Berkley from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their price target on W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $64.36.

W. R. Berkley Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:WRB opened at $60.39 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.84, a P/E/G ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 0.67. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 1-year low of $50.73 and a 1-year high of $65.49. The company has a current ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $59.26 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $59.08.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last posted its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The insurance provider reported $1.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.95 by $0.18. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 20.83% and a net margin of 12.88%. Equities analysts predict that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.35 earnings per share for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.53%. W. R. Berkley’s payout ratio is currently 7.33%.

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.