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

W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) has received a consensus rating of “Hold” from the thirteen analysts that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have given a hold recommendation and six have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $64.28.

Several research firms have issued reports on WRB. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of W. R. Berkley from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $69.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday, November 25th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $63.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on W. R. Berkley from $59.00 to $58.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Truist Financial upped their target price on W. R. Berkley from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd.

W. R. Berkley Trading Up 0.5 %

WRB opened at $58.71 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.36. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $60.51 and its 200-day moving average price is $57.87. W. R. Berkley has a one year low of $46.48 and a one year high of $65.49. The stock has a market cap of $22.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.04, a P/E/G ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 0.65.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $2.93 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.93 billion. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 20.41% and a net margin of 11.96%. W. R. Berkley’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.90 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that W. R. Berkley will post 3.96 EPS for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th will be issued a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 16th. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.21%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 48.6% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 15,121,001 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $857,814,000 after acquiring an additional 4,947,830 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 51.0% in the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 11,321,958 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $642,294,000 after purchasing an additional 3,825,238 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in W. R. Berkley by 47.9% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,591,353 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $429,266,000 after buying an additional 2,459,073 shares during the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in 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 buying an additional 54,530 shares during the period. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its stake in W. R. Berkley by 104.1% during the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 4,154,783 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $235,701,000 after acquiring an additional 2,118,641 shares during the period. 68.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.