W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) Stock Rating Upgraded by StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report released on Saturday morning.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently commented on the company. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on W. R. Berkley from $93.00 to $87.00 and set a market perform rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $99.00 to $94.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $95.00 to $93.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Evercore ISI increased their price target on W. R. Berkley from $83.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an in-line rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $88.00 to $86.00 and set a sector perform rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, W. R. Berkley has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $90.38.

W. R. Berkley Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of WRB opened at $78.71 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.19 billion, a PE ratio of 13.96, a P/E/G ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 0.60. The company’s fifty day moving average is $83.55 and its 200 day moving average is $77.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a current ratio of 0.37. W. R. Berkley has a fifty-two week low of $55.50 and a fifty-two week high of $89.18.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The insurance provider reported $1.56 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.46 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $2.76 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.77 billion. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.23% and a return on equity of 21.01%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.00 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that W. R. Berkley will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 4th were issued a dividend of $0.11 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 1st. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.56%. W. R. Berkley’s payout ratio is currently 7.80%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On W. R. Berkley

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