W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) Raised to Buy at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report released on Saturday morning.

Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $99.00 to $94.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $83.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an in-line rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Truist Financial cut their price target on W. R. Berkley from $95.00 to $93.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. UBS Group increased their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $81.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $86.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, W. R. Berkley currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $90.38.

W. R. Berkley Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of WRB opened at $78.71 on Friday. W. R. Berkley has a 1-year low of $55.50 and a 1-year high of $89.18. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $83.55 and its 200 day moving average price is $77.06. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.96, a P/E/G ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a current ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The insurance provider reported $1.56 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.46 by $0.10. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.23% and a return on equity of 21.01%. The firm had revenue of $2.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.77 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.00 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that W. R. Berkley will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 4th were given a $0.11 dividend. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 1st. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 7.80%.

Institutional Trading of W. R. Berkley

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. EULAV Asset Management boosted its stake in W. R. Berkley by 4.4% during the third quarter. EULAV Asset Management now owns 945,260 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $60,015,000 after buying an additional 39,716 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $8,970,000. NatWest Group plc bought a new stake in W. R. Berkley in the fourth quarter valued at $8,791,000. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley during the fourth quarter valued at $870,000. Finally, Financial Strategies Group Inc. boosted its position in W. R. Berkley by 29.6% in the fourth quarter. Financial Strategies Group Inc. now owns 53,112 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $4,126,000 after buying an additional 12,140 shares in the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.