W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) Upgraded at StockNews.com

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

Several other research firms have also recently commented on WRB. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of W. R. Berkley from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $69.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $63.00 price target on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, W. R. Berkley has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $64.36.

W. R. Berkley Stock Performance

NYSE WRB opened at $60.39 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $23.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.84, a PEG ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a 50 day moving average of $59.26 and a 200-day moving average of $59.08. The company has a current ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. W. R. Berkley has a 1-year low of $50.73 and a 1-year high of $65.49.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 27th. The insurance provider reported $1.13 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.95 by $0.18. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.88% and a return on equity of 20.83%. On average, equities analysts forecast that W. R. Berkley will post 4.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.53%. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is 7.33%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On W. R. Berkley

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in WRB. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 48.6% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 15,121,001 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $857,814,000 after purchasing an additional 4,947,830 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley during the fourth quarter worth $272,582,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 51.0% during the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 11,321,958 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $642,294,000 after acquiring an additional 3,825,238 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 55.1% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 7,366,424 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $417,897,000 after acquiring an additional 2,616,227 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 211.3% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,674,171 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $208,436,000 after acquiring an additional 2,493,758 shares during the period. 68.82% of the stock is 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.