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

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

WRB has been the topic of a number of other research reports. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $93.00 to $87.00 and set a market perform rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $83.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an in-line rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $99.00 to $94.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $85.00 to $88.00 and gave the company a market perform rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of W. R. Berkley from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $90.63.

W. R. Berkley Stock Performance

WRB opened at $77.85 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.97 billion, a PE ratio of 15.39, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.57. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $84.47 and a two-hundred day moving average of $76.21. W. R. Berkley has a 12-month low of $55.50 and a 12-month 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, beating the consensus estimate of $1.46 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $2.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.77 billion. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 11.38% and a return on equity of 19.03%. 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 earned $1.00 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that W. R. Berkley will post 5.94 EPS for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 4th were paid 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 0.57%. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.70%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. ING Groep NV boosted its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. ING Groep NV now owns 7,669 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $542,000 after acquiring an additional 128 shares during the last quarter. Wedmont Private Capital boosted its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 3.0% during the 1st quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 4,768 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $399,000 after acquiring an additional 137 shares during the last quarter. West Paces Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 12.7% during the 1st quarter. West Paces Advisors Inc. now owns 1,228 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $109,000 after acquiring an additional 138 shares during the last quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC boosted its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 6.8% during the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 2,250 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $159,000 after acquiring an additional 144 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ballentine Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 9,180 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $649,000 after acquiring an additional 147 shares during the last quarter. 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.