8,544 Shares in W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) Purchased by Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund

Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund purchased a new position in W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund purchased 8,544 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $608,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of WRB. Brighton Jones LLC raised its stake in W.R. Berkley by 75.6% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 50,503 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,955,000 after buying an additional 21,737 shares in the last quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC raised its stake in W.R. Berkley by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 21,588 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,263,000 after buying an additional 257 shares in the last quarter. ING Groep NV bought a new position in W.R. Berkley in the fourth quarter worth about $796,000. Wealthspire Advisors LLC bought a new position in W.R. Berkley in the fourth quarter worth about $378,000. Finally, Crestwood Advisors Group LLC bought a new position in shares of W.R. Berkley during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $209,000. 68.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

W.R. Berkley Price Performance

Shares of WRB opened at $73.23 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $27.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $72.44 and a 200 day moving average of $65.44. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a twelve month low of $51.41 and a twelve month high of $76.38.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.08 by ($0.07). The firm had revenue of $3.01 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.01 billion. W.R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.43% and a return on equity of 19.66%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W.R. Berkley Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Monday, June 23rd will be given a dividend of $0.09 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 23rd. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.49%. This is an increase from W.R. Berkley’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. W.R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.35%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on WRB shares. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on shares of W.R. Berkley from $57.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of W.R. Berkley from $65.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, May 19th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of W.R. Berkley from $73.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of W.R. Berkley from $63.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, May 19th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on shares of W.R. Berkley from $52.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $70.64.

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.