W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) Given New $99.00 Price Target at Wells Fargo & Company

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) had its price target boosted by Wells Fargo & Company from $92.00 to $99.00 in a research note released on Thursday, Benzinga reports. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an overweight rating on the insurance provider’s stock.

A number of other research analysts have also weighed in on the stock. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $81.00 to $93.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $73.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock a sector perform rating in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $71.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a market perform rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Truist Financial lifted their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $83.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Finally, Evercore ISI reiterated an in-line rating and issued a $79.00 target price (up previously from $69.00) on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research note on Tuesday, January 9th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, W. R. Berkley presently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $88.50.

W. R. Berkley Stock Down 2.1 %

WRB opened at $82.18 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 0.37 and a quick ratio of 0.37. The company’s 50-day moving average is $84.35 and its 200 day moving average is $75.00. W. R. Berkley has a fifty-two week low of $55.50 and a fifty-two week high of $89.18. The firm has a market capitalization of $21.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.24, a PEG ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 0.57.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 24th. The insurance provider reported $1.45 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.35 by $0.10. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 11.38% and a return on equity of 19.03%. The company had revenue of $3.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.70 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.16 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that W. R. Berkley will post 6.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 4th were paid a $0.11 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 1st. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.54%. W. R. Berkley’s payout ratio is 8.70%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On W. R. Berkley

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Ballentine Partners LLC grew its stake in W. R. Berkley by 3.3% in the 1st quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 9,479 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $838,000 after buying an additional 299 shares in the last quarter. MJP Associates Inc. ADV lifted its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 25.3% in the 1st quarter. MJP Associates Inc. ADV now owns 4,727 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $418,000 after acquiring an additional 954 shares during the last quarter. Optimum Investment Advisors lifted its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 14.5% in the 1st quarter. Optimum Investment Advisors now owns 1,975 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $175,000 after acquiring an additional 250 shares during the last quarter. CHURCHILL MANAGEMENT Corp lifted its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 0.9% in the 1st quarter. CHURCHILL MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 218,391 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $19,314,000 after acquiring an additional 2,038 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tealwood Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley in the 1st quarter worth approximately $2,428,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

W. R. Berkley Company Profile

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.