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

Shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the thirteen brokerages that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, seven have assigned a hold recommendation and five have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $65.13.

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on WRB shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Barclays raised their price target on W. R. Berkley from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Bank of America reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $74.00 price objective (up previously from $73.00) on shares of W. R. Berkley in a report on Tuesday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on W. R. Berkley from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $63.00 price target on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th.

W. R. Berkley Stock Down 6.8 %

Shares of NYSE WRB opened at $65.53 on Friday. W. R. Berkley has a 12-month low of $50.73 and a 12-month high of $76.38. The stock has a market cap of $24.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.02, a PEG ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.40. 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 business’s fifty day simple moving average is $62.79 and its 200-day simple moving average is $60.54.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 27th. The insurance provider reported $1.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.95 by $0.18. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 20.83% and a net margin of 12.88%. As a group, equities analysts predict that W. R. Berkley will post 4.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. W. R. Berkley’s payout ratio is currently 7.34%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On W. R. Berkley

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. FMR LLC raised its stake in W. R. Berkley by 68.6% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 116,767 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $6,624,000 after acquiring an additional 47,515 shares during the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors raised its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 50.1% during the third quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 39,089 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,218,000 after purchasing an additional 13,039 shares during the last quarter. Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC lifted its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 46.2% during the third quarter. Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC now owns 161,193 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $9,144,000 after purchasing an additional 50,907 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC grew its position in W. R. Berkley by 48.1% in the 3rd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 136,639 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $7,768,000 after buying an additional 44,384 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Investment Management Corp of Ontario increased its stake in W. R. Berkley by 121.7% in the 3rd quarter. Investment Management Corp of Ontario now owns 10,201 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $579,000 after buying an additional 5,600 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.