Alaska Permanent Fund Corp Buys 1,083 Shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Alaska Permanent Fund Corp raised its holdings in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 1.5% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 71,728 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,083 shares during the quarter. Alaska Permanent Fund Corp’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $5,073,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Ballentine Partners LLC lifted its stake in W. R. Berkley by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 9,180 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $649,000 after buying an additional 147 shares during the period. Bleakley Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in W. R. Berkley by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 17,244 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,220,000 after buying an additional 148 shares during the period. Claro Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Claro Advisors LLC now owns 9,832 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $695,000 after purchasing an additional 156 shares during the period. Signaturefd LLC raised its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 5.2% during the fourth quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 3,511 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $248,000 after purchasing an additional 175 shares during the period. Finally, Allworth Financial LP raised its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 18.6% during the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,130 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $80,000 after purchasing an additional 177 shares during the period. 68.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WRB has been the topic of a number of research reports. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on W. R. Berkley from $88.00 to $86.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. UBS Group upped their target price on W. R. Berkley from $81.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. Truist Financial lowered their target price on W. R. Berkley from $95.00 to $93.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on W. R. Berkley from $86.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price target on W. R. Berkley from $83.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $90.63.

W. R. Berkley Price Performance

WRB traded up $0.28 during trading on Thursday, reaching $78.13. 224,402 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,245,638. The company’s 50-day moving average is $84.47 and its two-hundred day moving average is $76.21. The company has a market cap of $20.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.80, a P/E/G ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a quick ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 12-month low of $55.50 and a 12-month high of $89.18.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The insurance provider reported $1.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.46 by $0.10. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 21.01% and a net margin of 12.23%. The firm had revenue of $2.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.77 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.00 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 5.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 13th. Investors of record on Monday, March 4th were paid a $0.11 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 1st. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.56%. W. R. Berkley’s payout ratio is 7.80%.

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.