W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) Rating Increased to Buy at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $62.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. TD Cowen assumed coverage on W. R. Berkley in a research report on Monday, July 1st. They set a buy rating and a $103.00 price objective for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded W. R. Berkley from a buy rating to a neutral rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $88.00 to $83.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 13th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a sector perform rating and issued a $57.00 target price on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, Barclays assumed coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. They set an underweight rating and a $56.00 price target for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $77.70.

W. R. Berkley Stock Performance

WRB stock opened at $56.51 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $56.99 and its 200 day simple moving average is $72.20. W. R. Berkley has a 12-month low of $41.37 and a 12-month high of $61.28. The firm has a market cap of $21.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.03, a P/E/G ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a current ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last issued its earnings results on Monday, July 22nd. The insurance provider reported $1.04 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.12. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.05% and a return on equity of 21.34%. The company had revenue of $3.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.84 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.14 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that W. R. Berkley will post 4.03 EPS for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 23rd will be paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 23rd. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.57%. W. R. Berkley’s payout ratio is 8.51%.

Institutional Trading of W. R. Berkley

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in WRB. Sound Income Strategies LLC raised its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 563.2% during the first quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 451 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 383 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP acquired a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley during the 2nd quarter valued at $42,000. Intelligent Financial Strategies bought a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley in the 1st quarter worth $44,000. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 49.9% in the second quarter. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. now owns 580 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 193 shares during the period. Finally, Covestor Ltd boosted its stake in W. R. Berkley by 173.0% during the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 546 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $48,000 after buying an additional 346 shares in the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.