State of Michigan Retirement System Sells 300 Shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB)

State of Michigan Retirement System lowered its position in shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) by 0.4% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 81,419 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 300 shares during the quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System’s holdings in W.R. Berkley were worth $5,794,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Optiver Holding B.V. increased its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley by 107.3% during the fourth quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. now owns 427 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 221 shares in the last quarter. Garde Capital Inc. bought a new stake in W.R. Berkley during the 1st quarter worth approximately $30,000. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in W.R. Berkley during the 4th quarter valued at $37,000. Colonial Trust Co SC increased its holdings in W.R. Berkley by 79.9% during the 4th quarter. Colonial Trust Co SC now owns 822 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $48,000 after purchasing an additional 365 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Crowley Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in W.R. Berkley in the 4th quarter valued at $59,000. 68.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WRB has been the subject of a number of research reports. UBS Group raised their target price on W.R. Berkley from $78.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on shares of W.R. Berkley from $57.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, April 11th. TD Cowen lowered shares of W.R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $78.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on shares of W.R. Berkley from $65.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, May 19th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of W.R. Berkley from $70.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $72.00.

W.R. Berkley Price Performance

Shares of WRB stock opened at $68.83 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $72.64 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $66.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.36. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a 52-week low of $51.41 and a 52-week high of $76.38. The stock has a market cap of $26.11 billion, a PE ratio of 15.97, a PEG ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 0.41.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.08 by ($0.07). The company had revenue of $3.01 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.01 billion. W.R. Berkley had a return on equity of 19.66% and a net margin of 12.43%. As a group, analysts forecast that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 EPS for the current year.

W.R. Berkley Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 23rd were paid a $0.09 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 23rd. This is a boost from W.R. Berkley’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.52%. W.R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is 8.35%.

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.