Texas Permanent School Fund Corp Has $2.64 Million Holdings in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Posted by Defense World Staff on Jul 28th, 2023

Texas Permanent School Fund Corp boosted its stake in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB – Free Report) by 46.2% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 42,469 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 13,424 shares during the quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $2,644,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Asahi Life Asset Management CO. LTD. purchased a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley during the 1st quarter valued at $272,000. Banque Pictet & Cie SA purchased a new position in W. R. Berkley in the 1st quarter worth $1,538,000. CWM LLC grew its position in W. R. Berkley by 1.8% during the 1st quarter. CWM LLC now owns 345,833 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $21,532,000 after acquiring an additional 6,121 shares during the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC boosted its position in W. R. Berkley by 313.0% during the 1st quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 2,032 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $127,000 after buying an additional 1,540 shares during the period. Finally, Ameritas Advisory Services LLC purchased a new position in W. R. Berkley during the 1st quarter valued at about $82,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.96% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on W. R. Berkley from $84.00 to $80.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 18th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on W. R. Berkley from $75.00 to $69.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 10th. StockNews.com raised shares of W. R. Berkley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $82.00 to $76.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 21st. Finally, Evercore ISI decreased their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $85.00 to $73.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 13th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, W. R. Berkley presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $77.45.

W. R. Berkley Stock Performance

Shares of WRB opened at $62.50 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $58.72 and its 200-day simple moving average is $62.44. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 12-month low of $55.50 and a 12-month high of $76.99. The company has a current ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. The firm has a market cap of $16.30 billion, a PE ratio of 13.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 0.63.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 20th. The insurance provider reported $1.14 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.07 by $0.07. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 17.79% and a net margin of 10.85%. The company had revenue of $3 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.57 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.12 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.51 EPS for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 30th. Investors of record on Monday, June 26th were issued a $0.11 dividend. This is an increase from W. R. Berkley’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.10. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 23rd. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.70%. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.67%.

W. R. Berkley Company Profile

(Free Report)

W. R. Berkley Corporation, an insurance holding company, operates as a commercial lines writer in the United States and internationally. It operates in two segments, Insurance and Reinsurance & Monoline Excess. The Insurance segment underwrites commercial insurance business, including premises operations, commercial automobile, property, products liability, and general and professional liability lines.