W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) Receives $89.22 Consensus PT from Brokerages

Shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) have earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eight brokerages that are covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $90.63.

WRB has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Truist Financial lowered their price target on W. R. Berkley from $95.00 to $93.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on W. R. Berkley from $88.00 to $86.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $83.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $85.00 to $88.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $99.00 to $94.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On W. R. Berkley

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in WRB. ING Groep NV raised its stake in W. R. Berkley by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. ING Groep NV now owns 7,669 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $542,000 after purchasing an additional 128 shares during the period. Wedmont Private Capital grew its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 3.0% during the first quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 4,768 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $399,000 after buying an additional 137 shares in the last quarter. West Paces Advisors Inc. raised its position in W. R. Berkley by 12.7% during the first quarter. West Paces Advisors Inc. now owns 1,228 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $109,000 after buying an additional 138 shares during the period. Quadrant Capital Group LLC lifted its stake in W. R. Berkley by 6.8% in the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 2,250 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $159,000 after acquiring an additional 144 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mitchell & Pahl Private Wealth LLC boosted its position in W. R. Berkley by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Mitchell & Pahl Private Wealth LLC now owns 14,221 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,258,000 after acquiring an additional 145 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

W. R. Berkley Stock Performance

WRB stock opened at $76.65 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $19.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.59, a PEG ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a quick ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $84.26 and a 200 day simple moving average of $76.31. W. R. Berkley has a fifty-two week low of $55.50 and a fifty-two week high of $89.18.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The insurance provider reported $1.56 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.46 by $0.10. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.23% and a return on equity of 21.01%. The company had revenue of $2.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.77 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.00 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that W. R. Berkley will post 5.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 4th were given a $0.11 dividend. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 1st. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 7.80%.

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.