W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) Receives $68.39 Consensus PT from Analysts

Shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) have been assigned an average rating of “Hold” from the twelve analysts that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, seven have given a hold recommendation and four have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $68.39.

A number of brokerages have recently commented on WRB. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $73.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Bank of America restated a “neutral” rating and set a $74.00 price objective (up from $73.00) on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. StockNews.com downgraded W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Truist Financial increased their price target on W. R. Berkley from $68.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, April 11th.

W. R. Berkley Price Performance

WRB stock opened at $72.75 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $27.60 billion, a PE ratio of 16.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.44. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $66.94 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $62.43. W. R. Berkley has a 1 year low of $51.17 and a 1 year high of $76.38. The company has a current ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last announced its earnings results on Monday, April 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08 by ($0.07). W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.88% and a return on equity of 20.83%. The firm had revenue of $3.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.01 billion. Equities analysts forecast that W. R. Berkley will post 4.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. W. R. Berkley’s payout ratio is presently 7.42%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On W. R. Berkley

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Barclays PLC lifted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 78.6% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,469,608 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $83,372,000 after buying an additional 646,973 shares during the last quarter. Bard Financial Services Inc. lifted its position in W. R. Berkley by 50.0% during the third quarter. Bard Financial Services Inc. now owns 7,590 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $431,000 after acquiring an additional 2,530 shares during the last quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in W. R. Berkley during the third quarter worth approximately $88,000. World Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley in the third quarter valued at approximately $1,709,000. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley during the third quarter worth approximately $98,000. 68.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.