W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) Given Consensus Rating of “Hold” by Brokerages

Shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) have been given a consensus rating of “Hold” by the twelve ratings firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, eight have assigned a hold recommendation and three have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $70.64.

WRB has been the subject of a number of research reports. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on W.R. Berkley from $68.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. UBS Group lifted their price objective on 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 lifted their price objective on 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. Bank of America reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $74.00 price objective (up from $73.00) on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on W.R. Berkley from $69.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd.

W.R. Berkley Price Performance

WRB stock opened at $71.75 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $72.51 and a two-hundred day moving average of $65.48. 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 stock has a market cap of $27.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 0.42. W.R. Berkley has a 52-week low of $51.41 and a 52-week high of $76.38.

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

W.R. Berkley Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Monday, June 23rd will be issued a $0.09 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 23rd. This is a positive change from W.R. Berkley’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.50%. W.R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.35%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Optiver Holding B.V. boosted its holdings in W.R. Berkley by 107.3% in the fourth quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. now owns 427 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 221 shares during the period. Spectrum Wealth Counsel LLC purchased a new stake in W.R. Berkley during the 1st quarter worth about $29,000. Garde Capital Inc. purchased a new stake in W.R. Berkley during the 1st quarter worth about $30,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in W.R. Berkley during the 4th quarter worth about $35,000. Finally, N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC purchased a new stake in W.R. Berkley during the 1st quarter worth about $36,000. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.