W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) Upgraded by StockNews.com to Buy

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

WRB has been the subject of several other reports. TD Cowen began coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a report on Monday. They issued a buy rating and a $103.00 price objective for the company. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $83.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an in-line rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $93.00 to $87.00 and set a market perform rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $99.00 to $94.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a sector perform rating and issued a $86.00 target price on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research note on Monday. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $90.44.

W. R. Berkley Trading Down 0.1 %

NYSE:WRB opened at $79.16 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.36. The firm has a market cap of $20.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 0.61. W. R. Berkley has a 52 week low of $57.79 and a 52 week high of $89.18. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $79.12 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $79.89.

Shares of W. R. Berkley are set to split before the market opens on Wednesday, July 10th. The 3-2 split was announced on Wednesday, June 12th. The newly created shares will be payable to shareholders after the market closes on Tuesday, July 9th.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The insurance provider reported $1.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.46 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $2.76 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.77 billion. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.23% and a return on equity of 20.51%. The company’s revenue was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.00 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that W. R. Berkley will post 5.82 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 24th were given a dividend of $0.12 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 24th. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.61%. This is a boost from W. R. Berkley’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.11. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.51%.

Institutional Trading of W. R. Berkley

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley during the 4th quarter valued at $8,970,000. NatWest Group plc purchased a new position in W. R. Berkley in the 4th quarter worth $8,791,000. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new position in W. R. Berkley in the 4th quarter worth $870,000. Financial Strategies Group Inc. raised its position in W. R. Berkley by 29.6% in the 4th quarter. Financial Strategies Group Inc. now owns 53,112 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $4,126,000 after purchasing an additional 12,140 shares during the period. Finally, APG Asset Management US Inc. purchased a new position in W. R. Berkley in the 4th quarter worth $2,878,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

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.