Brokerages Set W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) Price Target at $89.22

W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) has earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eight analysts that are covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $89.88.

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on WRB. UBS Group increased their price objective 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. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $85.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Truist Financial increased their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $83.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 25th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On W. R. Berkley

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in WRB. Vontobel Holding Ltd. bought a new stake in W. R. Berkley during the 3rd quarter valued at about $402,000. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. lifted its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 44.1% during the 3rd quarter. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,350 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $81,000 after buying an additional 413 shares in the last quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems bought a new stake in W. R. Berkley during the 3rd quarter valued at about $995,000. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund bought a new stake in W. R. Berkley during the 3rd quarter valued at about $444,000. Finally, Granite Bay Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in W. R. Berkley during the 3rd quarter valued at about $434,000. 68.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

W. R. Berkley Price Performance

Shares of WRB opened at $83.43 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $21.40 billion, a PE ratio of 16.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a current ratio of 0.37. W. R. Berkley has a fifty-two week low of $55.50 and a fifty-two week high of $89.18. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $84.59 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $76.09.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 24th. The insurance provider reported $1.45 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.35 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $3.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.70 billion. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 11.38% and a return on equity of 19.03%. The business’s revenue was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.16 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that W. R. Berkley will post 5.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 4th were paid a $0.11 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 1st. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.53%. W. R. Berkley’s payout ratio is currently 8.70%.

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.