Brokerages Set W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) PT at $70.64

W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) has earned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the twelve analysts that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $70.64.

WRB has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on W.R. Berkley from $65.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, May 19th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on W.R. Berkley from $57.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on W.R. Berkley from $63.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, May 19th. Bank of America restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $74.00 target price (up previously from $73.00) on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Finally, Truist Financial upped their target price on W.R. Berkley from $68.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd.

W.R. Berkley Stock Down 2.1%

W.R. Berkley stock opened at $71.75 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.36. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $72.51 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $65.48. The company has a market cap of $27.22 billion, a PE ratio of 16.65, a PEG ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 0.42. W.R. Berkley has a fifty-two week low of $51.41 and a fifty-two week high of $76.38.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.08 by ($0.07). The firm had revenue of $3.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.01 billion. W.R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.43% and a return on equity of 19.66%. Equities analysts anticipate that W.R. Berkley will post 4.33 EPS for the current year.

W.R. Berkley Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 23rd will be given a dividend of $0.09 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 23rd. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.50%. This is an increase from W.R. Berkley’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. W.R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.35%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On W.R. Berkley

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Amundi lifted its position in shares of W.R. Berkley by 43.1% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 1,477,932 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $85,853,000 after acquiring an additional 444,986 shares in the last quarter. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley by 12.0% in the fourth quarter. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC now owns 4,967 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $304,000 after purchasing an additional 532 shares during the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC increased its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley by 75.6% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 50,503 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,955,000 after purchasing an additional 21,737 shares during the last quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of W.R. Berkley in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $5,676,000. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its stake in W.R. Berkley by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 108,810 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $6,312,000 after acquiring an additional 2,394 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.