Barclays Issues Positive Forecast for W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) Stock Price

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) had its price target raised by Barclays from $62.00 to $64.00 in a report released on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. Barclays currently has an underweight rating on the insurance provider’s stock.

WRB has been the topic of several other research reports. Evercore restated an “underperform” rating on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research report on Monday, March 9th. Truist Financial decreased their target price on W.R. Berkley from $80.00 to $78.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $73.00 target price on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research report on Wednesday, January 7th. Mizuho decreased their target price on W.R. Berkley from $69.00 to $67.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, W.R. Berkley currently has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $68.63.

W.R. Berkley Stock Up 3.3%

Shares of WRB opened at $67.53 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. W.R. Berkley has a 12 month low of $63.67 and a 12 month high of $78.96. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $68.08 and its two-hundred day moving average is $70.68. The firm has a market cap of $25.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.31, a PEG ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.37.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.30 earnings per share 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 18.99% and a net margin of 12.64%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.01 earnings per share. Analysts predict that W.R. Berkley will post 4.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W.R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 4th. Investors of record on Monday, February 23rd were given a dividend of $0.09 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 23rd. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. W.R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.63%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, major shareholder Sumitomo Insurance Co L. Mitsui acquired 370,000 shares of W.R. Berkley stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 26th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $67.07 per share, for a total transaction of $24,815,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 54,959,504 shares in the company, valued at $3,686,133,933.28. This represents a 0.68% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders purchased a total of 4,518,946 shares of company stock worth $313,702,138 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 23.30% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On W.R. Berkley

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WRB. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its position in W.R. Berkley by 75.6% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 50,503 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,955,000 after buying an additional 21,737 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC increased its stake in W.R. Berkley by 9.7% during the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 33,990 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,419,000 after acquiring an additional 3,013 shares during the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC increased its stake in W.R. Berkley by 399.0% during the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 9,506 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $675,000 after acquiring an additional 7,601 shares during the last quarter. Cary Street Partners Financial LLC increased its stake in W.R. Berkley by 691.9% during the second quarter. Cary Street Partners Financial LLC now owns 586 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $43,000 after acquiring an additional 512 shares during the last quarter. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC increased its stake in W.R. Berkley by 12.0% during the second quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 9,825 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $722,000 after acquiring an additional 1,056 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

More W.R. Berkley News

Here are the key news stories impacting W.R. Berkley this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q1 results: WRB beat EPS expectations ($1.30 vs. $1.13 consensus), reported higher net income and operating income, and showed growth in gross premiums written — supporting the rally. Business Wire: Q1 Results
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst stance: Truist kept a Buy rating despite trimming its price target to $78, leaving meaningful upside vs. the current price and offering support to bullish investors. TickerReport: Truist PT
• Neutral Sentiment: Zacks and other outlets highlighted WRB as a value-name (style-score writeups) and published the full earnings call transcript for investors who want management color on underwriting, reserving and investment trends. Zacks: Value Stock Earnings Transcript
• Negative Sentiment: Revenue / premiums question: some reports characterize Q1 as mixed — while EPS beat, premiums and revenue metrics were described as slightly below certain expectations, which could concern underwriting-growth-focused investors. Zacks: Q1 Earnings/Revenue
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst target cuts/downgrades: Wells Fargo trimmed its target to $64 and set an “equal weight” rating, and Barclays moved its target to $64 while keeping an “underweight” stance — both actions put near-term downside into focus. Benzinga: Analyst Moves
• Negative Sentiment: Reserve concerns flagged: some coverage (Investing.com) noted investor attention on reserving and loss development — an area that can pressure insurers’ multiples if concerns persist. Investing.com: Reserve Concerns

About W.R. Berkley

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.