W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) Research Coverage Started at StockNews.com

StockNews.com started coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB – Get Rating) in a report issued on Thursday morning. The firm issued a buy rating on the insurance provider’s stock.

Other research analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $72.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 22nd. BMO Capital Markets began coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research report on Thursday, January 19th. They issued a market perform rating and a $76.00 target price for the company. Finally, Bank of America upgraded shares of W. R. Berkley from a neutral rating to a buy rating and cut their target price for the stock from $77.00 to $76.00 in a research report on Wednesday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, W. R. Berkley currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $79.09.

W. R. Berkley Stock Down 3.0 %

WRB opened at $61.00 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $67.92 and a 200-day moving average price of $69.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 0.38 and a quick ratio of 0.38. W. R. Berkley has a one year low of $59.50 and a one year high of $76.99.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 26th. The insurance provider reported $1.16 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.07 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $3.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.92 billion. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.37% and a return on equity of 18.50%. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.02 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that W. R. Berkley will post 4.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 9th will be paid a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 8th. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.08%.

Institutional Trading of W. R. Berkley

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WRB. James Investment Research Inc. bought a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley during the third quarter valued at about $27,000. Bogart Wealth LLC raised its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 43.2% during the third quarter. Bogart Wealth LLC now owns 451 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 136 shares during the last quarter. Red Cedar Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley during the third quarter valued at about $30,000. Dark Forest Capital Management LP bought a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley during the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. Finally, First Manhattan Co. raised its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 50.0% during the first quarter. First Manhattan Co. now owns 486 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 162 shares during the last quarter. 71.66% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

W. R. Berkley Company Profile

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W.R. Berkley Corp. is an insurance holding company, which engages in the property casualty insurance business. It operates through the following segments: Insurance and Reinsurance & Monoline Excess. The Insurance segment includes excess and surplus lines, admitted lines, and specialty personal lines throughout the United States, as well as insurance businesses in the United Kingdom, Continental Europe, South America, Canada, Mexico, Scandinavia, Asia, and Australia.