Board of the Pension Protection Fund Trims Holdings in W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB

Board of the Pension Protection Fund cut its stake in W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) by 37.8% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 6,100 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 3,700 shares during the quarter. Board of the Pension Protection Fund’s holdings in W.R. Berkley were worth $448,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Czech National Bank grew its holdings in W.R. Berkley by 6.3% during the 2nd quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 73,255 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $5,382,000 after buying an additional 4,336 shares in the last quarter. Federation des caisses Desjardins du Quebec grew its stake in W.R. Berkley by 70.8% during the first quarter. Federation des caisses Desjardins du Quebec now owns 17,197 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,224,000 after acquiring an additional 7,131 shares in the last quarter. Gallacher Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in W.R. Berkley during the second quarter valued at approximately $323,000. Sciencast Management LP purchased a new position in shares of W.R. Berkley during the 1st quarter valued at $3,493,000. Finally, Brighton Jones LLC grew its position in shares of W.R. Berkley by 75.6% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 50,503 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,955,000 after purchasing an additional 21,737 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

W.R. Berkley Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of WRB opened at $77.61 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $29.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.68, a P/E/G ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 0.42. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $73.06 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $71.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 0.37 and a quick ratio of 0.37. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a 1 year low of $55.97 and a 1 year high of $78.43.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last issued its earnings results on Monday, July 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.03 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $3.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.10 billion. W.R. Berkley had a return on equity of 18.83% and a net margin of 12.32%.During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.04 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W.R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 22nd were paid a $0.09 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 22nd. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. W.R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is 8.20%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on WRB. TD Cowen lowered shares of W.R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $78.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research report on Wednesday. Wolfe Research began coverage on W.R. Berkley in a report on Monday, September 15th. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. Barclays reissued an “underweight” rating and set a $73.00 price objective on shares of W.R. Berkley in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of W.R. Berkley from $68.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $73.69.

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.