W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) Lowered to “Hold” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report released on Thursday morning.

Several other research analysts also recently commented on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded shares of W. R. Berkley from a buy rating to a neutral rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $58.67 to $55.33 in a research note on Thursday, June 13th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a sector perform rating and set a $57.00 price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $62.00 to $64.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. TD Cowen initiated coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a report on Monday, July 1st. They set a buy rating and a $68.67 target price on the stock. Finally, Barclays assumed coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. They set an underweight rating and a $56.00 target price on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $59.67.

W. R. Berkley Trading Up 2.4 %

Shares of WRB opened at $58.51 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $22.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.56, a PEG ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a current ratio of 0.38. W. R. Berkley has a fifty-two week low of $41.82 and a fifty-two week high of $61.28. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $57.48 and a 200-day moving average price of $55.49.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last issued its earnings results on Monday, July 22nd. The insurance provider reported $1.04 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.12. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.05% and a return on equity of 21.34%. The company had revenue of $3.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.84 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.14 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that W. R. Berkley will post 4.03 earnings per share for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 23rd were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 23rd. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.55%. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.51%.

Institutional Trading of W. R. Berkley

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of WRB. Sound Income Strategies LLC increased its stake in W. R. Berkley by 563.2% in the first quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 451 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 383 shares during the period. Quarry LP purchased a new stake in W. R. Berkley in the second quarter worth $42,000. Intelligent Financial Strategies purchased a new stake in W. R. Berkley in the first quarter worth $44,000. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. increased its stake in W. R. Berkley by 49.9% in the second quarter. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. now owns 580 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 193 shares during the period. Finally, Covestor Ltd increased its stake in W. R. Berkley by 173.0% in the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 546 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $48,000 after purchasing an additional 346 shares during the period. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.