W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) Price Target Lowered to $86.00 at Royal Bank of Canada

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) had its target price trimmed by Royal Bank of Canada from $88.00 to $86.00 in a report issued on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a sector perform rating on the insurance provider’s stock.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on WRB. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $85.00 to $88.00 and gave the company a market perform rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Truist Financial decreased their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $95.00 to $93.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. StockNews.com cut shares of W. R. Berkley from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $86.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $83.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an in-line rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $90.63.

W. R. Berkley Trading Down 1.6 %

NYSE:WRB opened at $76.65 on Wednesday. W. R. Berkley has a 52 week low of $55.50 and a 52 week high of $89.18. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $84.26 and a 200 day moving average of $76.41. The company has a quick ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.59, a PEG ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 0.57.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The insurance provider reported $1.56 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 company had revenue of $2.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 for the quarter was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that W. R. Berkley will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 4th were paid a $0.11 dividend. 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 payout ratio is currently 7.80%.

Institutional Trading of W. R. Berkley

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley in the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Glassman Wealth Services grew its position in W. R. Berkley by 123.1% during the fourth quarter. Glassman Wealth Services now owns 357 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 197 shares during the period. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust grew its position in W. R. Berkley by 106.1% during the third quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 406 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 209 shares during the period. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. grew its position in W. R. Berkley by 132.6% during the third quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 414 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 236 shares during the period. Finally, VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC acquired a new stake in W. R. Berkley during the third quarter valued at $27,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

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.