W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) Receives $68.31 Consensus Price Target from Analysts

W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Reduce” by the eighteen brokerages that are covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, ten have given a hold recommendation and three have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $68.3125.

Several research firms have recently issued reports on WRB. Cantor Fitzgerald cut shares of W.R. Berkley from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $75.00 to $71.00 in a report on Thursday, April 9th. Wolfe Research lowered shares of W.R. Berkley from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of W.R. Berkley from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, April 25th. Barclays reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and set a $62.00 price objective (down from $64.00) on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research report on Friday, June 12th. Finally, Evercore reissued an “underperform” rating on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research report on Monday, March 9th.

W.R. Berkley Price Performance

Shares of NYSE WRB opened at $72.09 on Monday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $67.53 and a 200 day moving average price of $68.22. The company has a market cap of $26.84 billion, a PE ratio of 15.27, a P/E/G ratio of 3.41 and a beta of 0.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.36 and a quick ratio of 0.36. W.R. Berkley has a 1-year low of $62.87 and a 1-year high of $78.96.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.13 by $0.17. The business had revenue of $3.69 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.18 billion. W.R. Berkley had a return on equity of 18.92% and a net margin of 12.64%.The business’s revenue was up 1.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.01 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that W.R. Berkley will post 4.67 EPS for the current year.

W.R. Berkley Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 23rd were given a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.6%. This is an increase from W.R. Berkley’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.09. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 23rd. W.R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.47%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On W.R. Berkley

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of W.R. Berkley during the 4th quarter valued at about $3,542,919,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in W.R. Berkley by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 37,033,581 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,596,795,000 after purchasing an additional 309,828 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in W.R. Berkley by 1.0% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 14,921,114 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,143,256,000 after purchasing an additional 149,605 shares in the last quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in W.R. Berkley during the third quarter valued at approximately $682,816,000. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of W.R. Berkley in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $435,752,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

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.