State of Michigan Retirement System Raises Stock Holdings in W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB

State of Michigan Retirement System increased its position in W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) by 5.3% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 85,719 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 4,300 shares during the period. State of Michigan Retirement System’s holdings in W.R. Berkley were worth $6,298,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC raised its stake in W.R. Berkley by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 11,787,639 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $838,808,000 after acquiring an additional 65,163 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its stake in W.R. Berkley by 2.1% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 2,539,691 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $180,724,000 after acquiring an additional 52,594 shares during the last quarter. Madison Asset Management LLC raised its stake in W.R. Berkley by 9.5% in the 1st quarter. Madison Asset Management LLC now owns 1,842,275 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $131,096,000 after acquiring an additional 160,017 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in W.R. Berkley by 1.4% in the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,822,617 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $129,697,000 after acquiring an additional 25,782 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in W.R. Berkley by 18.5% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,542,249 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $109,746,000 after acquiring an additional 240,557 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

W.R. Berkley Price Performance

Shares of W.R. Berkley stock opened at $73.98 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a twelve month low of $55.97 and a twelve month high of $78.48. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $74.14 and a 200 day moving average price of $72.42. The firm has a market cap of $28.06 billion, a PE ratio of 15.54, a P/E/G ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 0.42.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 20th. The insurance provider reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.07 by $0.03. W.R. Berkley had a return on equity of 19.35% and a net margin of 13.01%.The firm had revenue of $3.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.16 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.93 EPS. W.R. Berkley’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict 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 declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Monday, September 22nd were paid a $0.09 dividend. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 22nd. W.R. Berkley’s payout ratio is currently 7.56%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on WRB. BMO Capital Markets downgraded shares of W.R. Berkley from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $64.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Barclays reiterated an “underweight” rating and set a $73.00 price objective on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Cantor Fitzgerald set a $78.00 price objective on W.R. Berkley in a research note on Monday, October 27th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $66.00 price objective on W.R. Berkley and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. Finally, Truist Financial set a $84.00 price objective on W.R. Berkley and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $74.46.

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.