W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) Downgraded by StockNews.com to “Hold”

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

WRB has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target 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. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. UBS Group increased their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Barclays initiated coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. They issued an “underweight” rating and a $56.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Truist Financial increased their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $64.28.

W. R. Berkley Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:WRB opened at $58.71 on Wednesday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $60.51 and its 200-day moving average is $57.87. The company has a current ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.37 billion, a PE ratio of 15.04, a PEG ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 0.65. W. R. Berkley has a 1-year low of $46.48 and a 1-year high of $65.49.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $2.93 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.93 billion. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 11.96% and a return on equity of 20.41%. The business’s revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.90 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that W. R. Berkley will post 3.96 earnings per share for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On W. R. Berkley

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in W. R. Berkley by 211.3% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,674,171 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $208,436,000 after purchasing an additional 2,493,758 shares during the period. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 50.8% in the 3rd quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 4,646 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $264,000 after purchasing an additional 1,566 shares during the last quarter. Garden State Investment Advisory Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $233,000. Retirement Systems of Alabama raised its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 46.5% during the third quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 65,267 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $3,703,000 after buying an additional 20,715 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 182.0% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 41,723 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,473,000 after buying an additional 26,930 shares during the period. 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.