National Pension Service Purchases 247,681 Shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

National Pension Service grew its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) by 71.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 591,965 shares of the insurance provider's stock after purchasing an additional 247,681 shares during the quarter. National Pension Service owned approximately 0.15% of W. R. Berkley worth $33,582,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in WRB. Quarry LP purchased a new stake in W. R. Berkley during the second quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Covestor Ltd lifted its position in W. R. Berkley by 173.0% during the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 546 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $48,000 after purchasing an additional 346 shares in the last quarter. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. lifted its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 49.9% during the second quarter. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. now owns 580 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 193 shares in the last quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 51.0% in the third quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. now owns 619 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 209 shares during the period. Finally, Evermay Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley in the first quarter worth $65,000. Institutional investors own 68.82% of the company's stock.

W. R. Berkley Trading Down 1.7 %

NYSE WRB traded down $1.05 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $59.62. 1,183,989 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,171,100. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 52 week low of $44.88 and a 52 week high of $61.96. The company has a quick ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 0.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $58.38 and a 200 day moving average price of $55.79. The stock has a market cap of $22.69 billion, a PE ratio of 15.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 0.62.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.01. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 20.91% and a net margin of 11.96%. The company had revenue of $2.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.93 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.90 EPS. W. R. Berkley's quarterly revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 3.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 23rd were paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 23rd. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.54%. W. R. Berkley's dividend payout ratio is 8.20%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WRB has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on W. R. Berkley from $59.00 to $58.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Truist Financial boosted their price target on W. R. Berkley from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $63.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Barclays assumed coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. They set an "underweight" rating and a $56.00 target price for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, W. R. Berkley presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $63.08.

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.