W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) Given Consensus Rating of “Hold” by Analysts

Shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) have been given a consensus rating of “Hold” by the ten research firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have assigned a hold recommendation and four have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $59.67.

WRB has been the subject of several recent research reports. Truist Financial boosted their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $62.00 to $64.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on W. R. Berkley from $62.00 to $59.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $58.67 to $55.33 in a research report on Thursday, June 13th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $57.00 target price on shares of W. R. Berkley in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, TD Cowen started coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a report on Monday, July 1st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $68.67 price target on the stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of WRB. Sound Income Strategies LLC grew its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 563.2% during the first quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 451 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 383 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP purchased a new stake in W. R. Berkley during the 2nd quarter valued at about $42,000. Intelligent Financial Strategies purchased a new stake in W. R. Berkley during the 1st quarter valued at about $44,000. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 49.9% in the second quarter. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. now owns 580 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 193 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Covestor Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 173.0% during the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 546 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $48,000 after purchasing an additional 346 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

W. R. Berkley Trading Up 0.7 %

WRB stock opened at $58.75 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $22.36 billion, a PE ratio of 15.63, a P/E/G ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.38 and a quick ratio of 0.38. W. R. Berkley has a 12 month low of $41.37 and a 12 month high of $61.28. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $57.42 and its 200 day moving average is $55.40.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last issued its earnings results on Monday, July 22nd. The insurance provider reported $1.04 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $3.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.84 billion. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.05% and a return on equity of 21.34%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.14 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that W. R. Berkley will post 4.03 EPS for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Monday, September 23rd will be paid a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 23rd. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.51%.

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.