W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) Upgraded at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report released on Wednesday morning.

WRB has been the topic of a number of other reports. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Bank of America lifted their price target on W. R. Berkley from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of W. R. Berkley from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $69.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Truist Financial lifted their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, W. R. Berkley has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $64.28.

W. R. Berkley Stock Performance

WRB opened at $60.78 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $60.40 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $57.48. 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 capitalization of $23.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 0.65. W. R. Berkley has a 1-year low of $45.75 and a 1-year high of $65.49.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $2.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.93 billion. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 20.41% and a net margin of 11.96%. The company’s revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.90 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that W. R. Berkley will post 3.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 16th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.53%. W. R. Berkley’s payout ratio is 8.20%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. increased its position in W. R. Berkley by 50.8% during the third quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 4,646 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $264,000 after acquiring an additional 1,566 shares during the period. Garden State Investment Advisory Services LLC acquired a new stake in W. R. Berkley in the 3rd quarter worth $233,000. Retirement Systems of Alabama increased its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 46.5% during the 3rd quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 65,267 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $3,703,000 after purchasing an additional 20,715 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 182.0% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 41,723 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,473,000 after buying an additional 26,930 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC lifted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 150.3% in the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 48,849 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,771,000 after buying an additional 29,329 shares during the period. 68.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.