Analysts Set W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) Target Price at $60.89

W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the twelve ratings firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $61.31.

WRB has been the subject of several research reports. Barclays initiated coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. They issued an “underweight” rating and a $56.00 price objective for the company. StockNews.com cut W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Truist Financial increased their target price on W. R. Berkley from $62.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. UBS Group lifted their price target on W. R. Berkley from $66.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $59.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 0.8% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,439,361 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,161,417,000 after acquiring an additional 195,763 shares in the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 7,553,875 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $593,584,000 after purchasing an additional 54,530 shares in the last quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. raised its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 3.5% in the second quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. now owns 2,698,311 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $197,838,000 after purchasing an additional 92,242 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 7.4% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,037,599 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $160,128,000 after purchasing an additional 139,588 shares in the last quarter. Finally, 1832 Asset Management L.P. boosted its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 1.4% during the second quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,929,931 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $151,654,000 after buying an additional 26,464 shares during the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

W. R. Berkley Stock Performance

W. R. Berkley stock opened at $59.30 on Friday. W. R. Berkley has a 1-year low of $41.82 and a 1-year high of $61.28. The firm has a market cap of $22.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.77, a P/E/G ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a current ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $58.00 and a 200-day moving average of $55.50.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 22nd. The insurance provider reported $1.04 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $3.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.84 billion. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 21.34% and a net margin of 12.05%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.14 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that W. R. Berkley will post 4.02 EPS for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Monday, September 23rd were paid a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 23rd. W. R. Berkley’s payout ratio is 8.51%.

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.