W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) Given New $94.00 Price Target at Wells Fargo & Company

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) had its target price lowered by Wells Fargo & Company from $99.00 to $94.00 in a research note released on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an overweight rating on the insurance provider’s stock.

Other research analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. StockNews.com lowered shares of W. R. Berkley from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price 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. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price 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 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. Finally, Truist Financial reduced their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $95.00 to $93.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, W. R. Berkley presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $90.63.

W. R. Berkley Stock Down 1.6 %

W. R. Berkley stock opened at $77.85 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $19.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.39, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a quick ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. W. R. Berkley has a twelve month low of $55.50 and a twelve month high of $89.18. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $84.47 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $76.21.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The insurance provider reported $1.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.46 by $0.10. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 11.38% and a return on equity of 19.03%. The firm had revenue of $2.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.77 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.00 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that W. R. Berkley will post 5.94 EPS for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 13th. Investors of record on Monday, March 4th were paid a $0.11 dividend. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.57%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 1st. W. R. Berkley’s payout ratio is 8.70%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On W. R. Berkley

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. EULAV Asset Management lifted its stake in W. R. Berkley by 4.4% in the 3rd quarter. EULAV Asset Management now owns 945,260 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $60,015,000 after purchasing an additional 39,716 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new position in W. R. Berkley in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $8,970,000. NatWest Group plc bought a new position in W. R. Berkley in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $8,791,000. Financial Strategies Group Inc. lifted its stake in W. R. Berkley by 29.6% in the 4th quarter. Financial Strategies Group Inc. now owns 53,112 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $4,126,000 after purchasing an additional 12,140 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 11.7% during the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 185,251 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $13,101,000 after acquiring an additional 19,408 shares during the last quarter. 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.