W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) PT Lowered to $94.00 at Wells Fargo & Company

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) had its price objective trimmed by Wells Fargo & Company from $99.00 to $94.00 in a report issued on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an overweight rating on the insurance provider’s stock.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on W. R. Berkley from $73.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock a sector perform rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $83.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an in-line rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. StockNews.com downgraded W. R. Berkley from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $86.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $85.00 to $88.00 and gave the company a market perform rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $90.63.

W. R. Berkley Trading Down 1.6 %

Shares of W. R. Berkley stock opened at $76.65 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $84.26 and a 200 day simple moving average of $76.31. W. R. Berkley has a 12-month low of $55.50 and a 12-month high of $89.18. The company has a market capitalization of $19.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 0.57. 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 announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The insurance provider reported $1.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.46 by $0.10. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 21.01% and a net margin of 12.23%. The business had revenue of $2.76 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.77 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.00 earnings per share. W. R. Berkley’s revenue was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that W. R. Berkley will post 5.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 4th were given a dividend of $0.11 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 1st. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.57%. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is presently 7.80%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Morgan Stanley lifted its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 4.2% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 13,065,224 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $829,511,000 after buying an additional 529,817 shares during the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 4.6% during the 3rd quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 6,819,124 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $432,946,000 after buying an additional 302,212 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,793,764 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $409,735,000 after buying an additional 154,468 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in W. R. Berkley during the 4th quarter worth about $213,635,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,041,442 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $144,371,000 after purchasing an additional 39,594 shares in the last quarter. 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.