Teacher Retirement System of Texas Has $41.65 Million Stock Position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Teacher Retirement System of Texas grew its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 46.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 711,741 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 224,805 shares during the period. Teacher Retirement System of Texas owned approximately 0.19% of W. R. Berkley worth $41,651,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Xponance Inc. raised its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 42,144 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,466,000 after purchasing an additional 717 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 234.1% in the 4th quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 39,405 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,306,000 after acquiring an additional 27,609 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. lifted its position in W. R. Berkley by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 26,459 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,548,000 after acquiring an additional 284 shares in the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC lifted its position in W. R. Berkley by 7.8% in the 4th quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 835,963 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $48,920,000 after acquiring an additional 60,534 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Catalyst Funds Management Pty Ltd lifted its position in W. R. Berkley by 156.5% in the 4th quarter. Catalyst Funds Management Pty Ltd now owns 23,600 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,381,000 after acquiring an additional 14,400 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on WRB shares. StockNews.com cut shares of W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $63.00 price target on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of W. R. Berkley from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $69.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 25th. Finally, Morgan Stanley started coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $65.00 price objective for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, W. R. Berkley presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $64.36.

W. R. Berkley Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of WRB stock opened at $63.57 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $60.86 and a 200-day moving average of $59.90. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 12-month low of $50.73 and a 12-month high of $65.49. The firm has a market cap of $24.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.57, a PEG ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.63.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The insurance provider reported $1.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.95 by $0.18. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.88% and a return on equity of 20.83%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd were paid a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.50%. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is 7.34%.

About W. R. Berkley

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.