W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) Receives Average Rating of “Hold” from Brokerages

W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) has been assigned an average rating of “Hold” from the twelve brokerages that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $63.08.

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $63.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. StockNews.com cut shares of W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $59.00 to $58.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd.

Institutional Trading of W. R. Berkley

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Chase Investment Counsel Corp raised its stake in W. R. Berkley by 27.9% in the 3rd quarter. Chase Investment Counsel Corp now owns 22,912 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,299,000 after purchasing an additional 4,994 shares in the last quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 50.0% during the third quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC now owns 10,799 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $613,000 after purchasing an additional 3,599 shares during the period. Private Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 50.2% in the third quarter. Private Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 5,090 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $291,000 after buying an additional 1,701 shares in the last quarter. Cumberland Partners Ltd bought a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley in the third quarter valued at approximately $1,988,000. Finally, Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in W. R. Berkley by 53.0% during the third quarter. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 5,680 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $322,000 after buying an additional 1,967 shares in the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

W. R. Berkley Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE:WRB opened at $58.21 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $22.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.93, a PEG ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a quick ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 0.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. W. R. Berkley has a 12 month low of $44.88 and a 12 month high of $61.96. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $58.34 and its 200 day simple moving average is $55.76.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last announced its earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $2.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.93 billion. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 20.91% and a net margin of 11.96%. W. R. Berkley’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.90 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that W. R. Berkley will post 3.96 EPS for the current fiscal 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 $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.55%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 23rd. W. R. Berkley’s payout ratio is 8.21%.

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.