Brokerages Set W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) Price Target at $64.28

Shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) have been assigned an average rating of “Hold” from the thirteen ratings firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $64.28.

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on WRB shares. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Truist Financial increased their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on W. R. Berkley from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $63.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd.

W. R. Berkley Price Performance

WRB opened at $58.52 on Thursday. W. R. Berkley has a one year low of $47.18 and a one year high of $65.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 0.65. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $60.36 and its 200-day simple moving average is $58.10.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $2.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.93 billion. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 20.41% and a net margin of 11.96%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.90 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that W. R. Berkley will post 3.96 EPS for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th were issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.55%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.21%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On W. R. Berkley

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of WRB. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. increased its stake in W. R. Berkley by 49.9% in the 2nd quarter. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. now owns 580 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 193 shares in the last quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. increased its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 51.0% in the third quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. now owns 619 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 209 shares in the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC increased its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 1.7% in the second quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 12,879 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,012,000 after buying an additional 212 shares in the last quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC now owns 12,361 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $971,000 after buying an additional 216 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Benjamin Edwards Inc. boosted its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 12.2% in the 2nd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 2,173 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $171,000 after buying an additional 236 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.