Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund Buys 8,310 Shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB

Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund grew its stake in W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) by 32.1% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 34,200 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,310 shares during the quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund’s holdings in W.R. Berkley were worth $2,620,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of WRB. Norges Bank bought a new position in W.R. Berkley during the 2nd quarter valued at $367,921,000. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. lifted its position in shares of W.R. Berkley by 6,503.1% during the second quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 2,561,230 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $188,174,000 after purchasing an additional 2,601,230 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in W.R. Berkley by 1.7% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 36,961,788 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,715,583,000 after purchasing an additional 625,685 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in W.R. Berkley by 8.6% in the 2nd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 7,274,234 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $534,438,000 after purchasing an additional 577,873 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Holocene Advisors LP purchased a new stake in W.R. Berkley in the 2nd quarter valued at about $29,617,000. Institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at W.R. Berkley

In related news, major shareholder Sumitomo Insurance Co L. Mitsui acquired 275,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 9th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $68.95 per share, for a total transaction of $18,961,250.00. Following the purchase, the insider owned 51,915,463 shares in the company, valued at $3,579,571,173.85. This trade represents a 0.53% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders acquired 3,108,875 shares of company stock valued at $217,295,222 in the last three months. 23.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on WRB shares. BMO Capital Markets lowered W.R. Berkley from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $64.00 target price for the company. in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Wolfe Research began coverage on W.R. Berkley in a research note on Monday, September 15th. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. Barclays reiterated an “underweight” rating and set a $64.00 target price (down from $73.00) on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research note on Thursday. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and set a $87.00 price target on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research report on Friday, November 7th. Finally, Evercore ISI set a $69.00 target price on shares of W.R. Berkley and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 7th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $72.87.

W.R. Berkley Price Performance

NYSE WRB opened at $68.71 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The company has a market cap of $26.11 billion, a PE ratio of 14.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 0.39. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a 52 week low of $56.53 and a 52 week high of $78.96. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $72.35 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $72.30.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last posted its earnings results on Monday, October 20th. The insurance provider reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.07 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $3.77 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.16 billion. W.R. Berkley had a net margin of 13.01% and a return on equity of 18.86%. The company’s revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.93 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current year.

W.R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 29th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 15th were issued a $0.09 dividend. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 15th. W.R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.56%.

W.R. Berkley Company Profile

W. R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE: WRB) is a publicly traded insurance holding company that underwrites and sells commercial property and casualty insurance, specialty insurance products, and reinsurance. Headquartered in Greenwich, Connecticut, the company operates a portfolio of underwriting businesses that focus on niche and specialty commercial risks, offering coverage tailored to industries such as transportation, construction, professional services and other commercial lines.

The company’s product mix includes primary and excess casualty, property, professional liability, environmental and other specialty lines, together with treaty and facultative reinsurance solutions.