Brokerages Set W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) Price Target at $75.67

Shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) have earned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the fifteen ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $74.7692.

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on WRB. UBS Group set a $87.00 target price on shares of W.R. Berkley and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. BMO Capital Markets lowered shares of W.R. Berkley from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $64.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Barclays reiterated an “underweight” rating and set a $73.00 target price on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of W.R. Berkley in a report on Monday, September 15th. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company set a $66.00 price target on shares of W.R. Berkley and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 21st.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On W.R. Berkley

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Czech National Bank lifted its holdings in W.R. Berkley by 6.3% during the 2nd quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 73,255 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $5,382,000 after purchasing an additional 4,336 shares during the last quarter. Federation des caisses Desjardins du Quebec lifted its position in shares of W.R. Berkley by 70.8% during the first quarter. Federation des caisses Desjardins du Quebec now owns 17,197 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,224,000 after purchasing an additional 7,131 shares in the last quarter. Gallacher Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of W.R. Berkley during the second quarter worth approximately $323,000. Sciencast Management LP acquired a new position in shares of W.R. Berkley during the first quarter worth approximately $3,493,000. Finally, Strs Ohio acquired a new position in shares of W.R. Berkley during the first quarter worth approximately $2,386,000. 68.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

W.R. Berkley Stock Performance

NYSE WRB opened at $75.01 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 0.37 and a quick ratio of 0.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $28.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.76, a P/E/G ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 0.42. The company’s fifty day moving average is $74.02 and its two-hundred day moving average is $72.19. W.R. Berkley has a 52-week low of $55.97 and a 52-week high of $78.48.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last issued its earnings results on Monday, October 20th. The insurance provider reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.07 by $0.03. W.R. Berkley had a net margin of 13.01% and a return on equity of 19.35%. The business had revenue of $3.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.16 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.93 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that W.R. Berkley will post 4.33 EPS for the current year.

W.R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Monday, September 22nd were issued a dividend of $0.09 per share. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 22nd. W.R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 7.56%.

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.