Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Takes Position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm bought 12,300 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $870,000.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust lifted its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 106.1% during the third quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 406 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 209 shares during the last quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 132.6% during the third quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 414 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 236 shares during the last quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley during the third quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Finally, McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $48,000. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

W. R. Berkley Trading Up 0.1 %

NYSE:WRB opened at $77.91 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.37, a quick 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. The company has a market cap of $19.99 billion, a PE ratio of 13.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $84.38 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $76.22.

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

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 4th were given a dividend of $0.11 per share. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.56%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 1st. W. R. Berkley’s payout ratio is 7.80%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WRB has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $99.00 to $94.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $83.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $81.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $85.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $86.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $90.63.

W. R. Berkley Company 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.