W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) Receives $72.00 Consensus PT from Analysts

W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) has received an average rating of “Hold” from the twelve brokerages that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, nine have issued a hold recommendation and two have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $72.00.

Several equities analysts have issued reports on WRB shares. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of W.R. Berkley from $70.00 to $71.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of W.R. Berkley from $62.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 7th. TD Cowen cut shares of W.R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $78.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of W.R. Berkley from $65.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, May 19th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of W.R. Berkley from $57.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, April 11th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On W.R. Berkley

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of WRB. Spectrum Wealth Counsel LLC bought a new position in shares of W.R. Berkley in the first quarter valued at $29,000. Garde Capital Inc. bought a new position in shares of W.R. Berkley in the first quarter valued at $30,000. Optiver Holding B.V. lifted its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley by 107.3% in the fourth quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. now owns 427 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 221 shares in the last quarter. N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in shares of W.R. Berkley in the first quarter valued at $36,000. Finally, Keystone Global Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of W.R. Berkley in the first quarter valued at $41,000. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

W.R. Berkley Price Performance

WRB stock opened at $67.98 on Monday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $72.38 and a 200 day simple moving average of $66.63. The stock has a market cap of $25.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.77, a P/E/G ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.41. W.R. Berkley has a 1 year low of $51.41 and a 1 year high of $76.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.36 and a quick ratio of 0.36.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.08 by ($0.07). W.R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.43% and a return on equity of 19.66%. The business had revenue of $3.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.01 billion. Research analysts anticipate that W.R. Berkley will post 4.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W.R. Berkley Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 23rd were issued a $0.09 dividend. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.53%. This is a boost from W.R. Berkley’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 23rd. W.R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.35%.

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.