W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) Upgraded by The Goldman Sachs Group to Buy Rating

The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a research note released on Monday, MarketBeat reports. They currently have $69.00 price target on the insurance provider’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on WRB. Truist Financial increased their price target on W. R. Berkley from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $63.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. StockNews.com cut W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Barclays started coverage on W. R. Berkley in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. They set an “underweight” rating and a $56.00 price target for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $64.22.

W. R. Berkley Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of W. R. Berkley stock opened at $63.06 on Monday. W. R. Berkley has a 12 month low of $45.75 and a 12 month high of $63.46. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $58.85 and a 200 day simple moving average of $56.60. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The stock has a market cap of $24.03 billion, a PE ratio of 16.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 0.62.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 net margin of 11.96% and a return on equity of 20.41%. W. R. Berkley’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.90 EPS. Research analysts predict that W. R. Berkley will post 3.94 EPS for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The firm 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 23rd. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.51%. W. R. Berkley’s payout ratio is presently 8.20%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On W. R. Berkley

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Quarry LP acquired a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 49.9% during the 2nd quarter. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. now owns 580 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $46,000 after buying an additional 193 shares in the last quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 51.0% during the 3rd quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. now owns 619 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 209 shares during the last quarter. PFS Partners LLC boosted its stake in W. R. Berkley by 51.1% in the third quarter. PFS Partners LLC now owns 719 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after buying an additional 243 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mascoma Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in W. R. Berkley during the second quarter worth about $62,000. 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.