W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB – Get Free Report) and Primerica (NYSE:PRI – Get Free Report) are both finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, earnings, profitability, analyst recommendations, dividends, valuation and risk.
Analyst Recommendations
This is a summary of recent ratings for W.R. Berkley and Primerica, as provided by MarketBeat.com.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| W.R. Berkley | 6 | 9 | 3 | 0 | 1.83 |
| Primerica | 0 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 2.25 |
W.R. Berkley presently has a consensus target price of $70.83, indicating a potential upside of 5.80%. Primerica has a consensus target price of $315.17, indicating a potential upside of 13.96%. Given Primerica’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Primerica is more favorable than W.R. Berkley.
Profitability
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| W.R. Berkley | 12.94% | 19.44% | 4.28% |
| Primerica | 23.20% | 32.45% | 5.35% |
Valuation & Earnings
This table compares W.R. Berkley and Primerica”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| W.R. Berkley | $14.71 billion | 1.69 | $1.78 billion | $4.87 | 13.75 |
| Primerica | $3.29 billion | 2.59 | $751.23 million | $24.90 | 11.11 |
W.R. Berkley has higher revenue and earnings than Primerica. Primerica is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than W.R. Berkley, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Dividends
W.R. Berkley pays an annual dividend of $0.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.6%. Primerica pays an annual dividend of $4.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.7%. W.R. Berkley pays out 8.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Primerica pays out 19.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. W.R. Berkley has increased its dividend for 23 consecutive years and Primerica has increased its dividend for 2 consecutive years.
Institutional and Insider Ownership
68.8% of W.R. Berkley shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 90.9% of Primerica shares are owned by institutional investors. 25.1% of W.R. Berkley shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.6% of Primerica shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.
Volatility and Risk
W.R. Berkley has a beta of 0.28, meaning that its share price is 72% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Primerica has a beta of 0.86, meaning that its share price is 14% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Summary
Primerica beats W.R. Berkley on 10 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.
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. This segment also provides accident and health insurance and reinsurance products; insurance for commercial risks; casualty and specialty environmental products; specialized insurance coverages for fine arts and jewelry exposures; excess liability and inland marine coverage for small to medium-sized insureds; and commercial general liability, umbrella, professional liability, directors and officers, commercial property, and surety products, as well as products for technology, and life sciences and travel industries. In addition, this segment offers cyber risk solutions; crime and fidelity insurance products; medical professional coverages; workers' compensation insurance products; general insurance; personal lines insurance solutions, including home, condo/co-op, auto, and collectibles; automobile, law enforcement, public officials and educator's legal, and employment practices liability, as well as incidental medical and property and crime insurance products; at-risk and alternative risk insurance program management services; professional liability; energy and marine risks; and provides insurance products to the Lloyd's marketplace. The Reinsurance & Monoline Excess segment provides treaty and facultative reinsurance solutions; property and casualty reinsurance; facultative reinsurance products include automatic, semi-automatic and individual risk assumed reinsurance; and turnkey products such as cyber, employment practices liability insurance, liquor liability insurance and violent events. The company was founded in 1967 and is headquartered in Greenwich, Connecticut.
About Primerica
Primerica, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides financial products and services to middle-income households in the United States and Canada. The company operates in four segments: Term Life Insurance; Investment and Savings Products; Senior Health; and Corporate and Other Distributed Products. The Term Life Insurance segment underwrites individual term life insurance products. The Investment and Savings Products segment provides mutual funds and various retirement plans, managed investments, variable and fixed annuities, and fixed indexed annuities. The Senior Health segment offers segregated funds; and medicare advantage and supplement plans. The Corporate and Other Distributed Products segment provides mortgage loans; prepaid legal services that assist subscribers with legal matters, such as drafting wills, living wills and powers of attorney, trial defense, and motor vehicle-related matters; ID theft defense services; auto and homeowners' insurance; home automation solutions; and insurance products, including supplemental and accidental death, and disability insurance. It distributes and sells its products through licensed sales representatives. Primerica, Inc. was founded in 1927 and is headquartered in Duluth, Georgia.
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