W.R. Berkley’s (WRB) Buy (B) Rating Reiterated at Weiss Ratings

Weiss Ratings reiterated their buy (b) rating on shares of W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday morning,Weiss Ratings reports.

A number of other research firms also recently commented on WRB. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of W.R. Berkley from $68.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday. UBS Group set a $87.00 price objective on shares of W.R. Berkley and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of W.R. Berkley in a report on Monday, September 15th. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. TD Cowen cut shares of W.R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $78.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Finally, Barclays restated an “underweight” rating and set a $73.00 target price on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research report on Wednesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $73.69.

W.R. Berkley Stock Up 0.1%

WRB stock opened at $77.61 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $29.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.68, a P/E/G ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 0.42. W.R. Berkley has a 52 week low of $55.97 and a 52 week high of $78.43. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $73.06 and its 200 day moving average price is $71.59. The company has a current ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.05 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.03 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $3.10 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.10 billion. W.R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.32% and a return on equity of 18.83%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.04 earnings per share. On average, 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 Tuesday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 22nd were given a $0.09 dividend. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 22nd. W.R. Berkley’s payout ratio is currently 8.20%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On W.R. Berkley

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Trust Point Inc. acquired a new position in shares of W.R. Berkley in the third quarter valued at approximately $203,000. Rydar Equities Inc. raised its position in shares of W.R. Berkley by 17.9% in the third quarter. Rydar Equities Inc. now owns 9,190 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $693,000 after buying an additional 1,395 shares during the last quarter. Board of the Pension Protection Fund raised its position in shares of W.R. Berkley by 106.6% in the third quarter. Board of the Pension Protection Fund now owns 12,600 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $965,000 after buying an additional 6,500 shares during the last quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC raised its position in shares of W.R. Berkley by 22.5% in the third quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 4,938 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $378,000 after buying an additional 908 shares during the last quarter. Finally, OLD Point Trust & Financial Services N A raised its position in shares of W.R. Berkley by 6.5% in the third quarter. OLD Point Trust & Financial Services N A now owns 20,821 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,595,000 after buying an additional 1,273 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

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.