W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) Given Average Rating of “Hold” by Brokerages

W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the eighteen analysts that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, ten have assigned a hold recommendation and four have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $69.8750.

Several brokerages recently issued reports on WRB. Truist Financial set a $80.00 price objective on W.R. Berkley and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. UBS Group set a $71.00 price target on W.R. Berkley in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price target on W.R. Berkley from $75.00 to $70.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 27th. Wall Street Zen upgraded W.R. Berkley from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 21st. Finally, TD Cowen lowered W.R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “sell” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $77.00 to $55.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th.

Insider Transactions at W.R. Berkley

In other news, major shareholder Sumitomo Insurance Co L. Mitsui bought 112,176 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 3rd. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $72.20 per share, with a total value of $8,099,107.20. Following the purchase, the insider owned 58,780,450 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,243,948,490. The trade was a 0.19% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders have purchased a total of 8,868,939 shares of company stock worth $613,578,412 in the last quarter. 23.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Johnson Financial Group Inc. grew its position in shares of W.R. Berkley by 22.3% in the third quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. now owns 756 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $58,000 after purchasing an additional 138 shares during the period. Maridea Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in W.R. Berkley by 2.0% during the third quarter. Maridea Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,180 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $528,000 after buying an additional 141 shares during the period. Inspire Advisors LLC lifted its position in W.R. Berkley by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Inspire Advisors LLC now owns 14,364 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,007,000 after buying an additional 144 shares during the period. Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in W.R. Berkley by 40.2% in the 3rd quarter. Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 523 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 150 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Valeo Financial Advisors LLC grew its holdings in W.R. Berkley by 3.3% in the 3rd quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 4,788 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $367,000 after buying an additional 151 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

W.R. Berkley Trading Down 0.8%

NYSE:WRB opened at $64.50 on Friday. W.R. Berkley has a 52-week low of $62.63 and a 52-week high of $78.96. The company has a quick ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $69.06 and a 200-day simple moving average of $71.79. The company has a market capitalization of $24.16 billion, a PE ratio of 14.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.35.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 26th. The insurance provider reported $1.13 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.14 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $3.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.18 billion. W.R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.10% and a return on equity of 18.17%. W.R. Berkley’s revenue was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.13 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that W.R. Berkley will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W.R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 4th. Investors of record on Monday, February 23rd were paid a dividend of $0.09 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 23rd. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. W.R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.09%.

W.R. Berkley Company Profile

W. R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE: WRB) is a publicly traded insurance holding company that underwrites and sells commercial property and casualty insurance, specialty insurance products, and reinsurance. Headquartered in Greenwich, Connecticut, the company operates a portfolio of underwriting businesses that focus on niche and specialty commercial risks, offering coverage tailored to industries such as transportation, construction, professional services and other commercial lines.

The company’s product mix includes primary and excess casualty, property, professional liability, environmental and other specialty lines, together with treaty and facultative reinsurance solutions.