W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” by Brokerages

Shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) have earned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the thirteen analysts that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, eight have given a hold recommendation and four have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $65.13.

Several research firms recently commented on WRB. Bank of America reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $74.00 target price (up previously from $73.00) on shares of W. R. Berkley in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Wells Fargo & Company cut W. R. Berkley from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $70.00 to $69.00 in a research note on Wednesday. Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $68.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $63.00 price target on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th.

W. R. Berkley Price Performance

Shares of NYSE WRB opened at $67.02 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $63.46 and its two-hundred day moving average is $60.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 0.36 and a quick ratio of 0.36. The company has a market cap of $25.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.40. W. R. Berkley has a 1-year low of $50.73 and a 1-year high of $76.38.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last issued its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The insurance provider reported $1.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.95 by $0.18. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.88% and a return on equity of 20.83%. Analysts forecast that W. R. Berkley will post 4.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were paid a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.34%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Pullen Investment Management LLC increased its position in W. R. Berkley by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Pullen Investment Management LLC now owns 22,954 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,343,000 after purchasing an additional 161 shares during the period. Wedmont Private Capital boosted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 8,038 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $456,000 after buying an additional 181 shares in the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its position in W. R. Berkley by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 5,289 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $310,000 after acquiring an additional 188 shares in the last quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. grew its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 107.3% during the 4th quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. now owns 427 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 221 shares during the period. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC grew its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 15,632 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $915,000 after purchasing an additional 235 shares during the period. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

W. R. Berkley Company Profile

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.