W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) Cut to “Hold” at StockNews.com

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

Several other research analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on W. R. Berkley from $59.00 to $58.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Barclays began coverage on W. R. Berkley in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. They issued an “underweight” rating and a $56.00 price objective for the company. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Truist Financial raised their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, W. R. Berkley has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $64.28.

W. R. Berkley Stock Performance

Shares of WRB stock opened at $58.97 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. W. R. Berkley has a 12-month low of $46.74 and a 12-month high of $65.49. The business’s 50 day moving average is $60.42 and its two-hundred day moving average is $57.93. The company has a market capitalization of $22.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.11, a P/E/G ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 0.65.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $2.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.93 billion. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 11.96% and a return on equity of 20.41%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.90 EPS. Analysts expect that W. R. Berkley will post 3.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th were given a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.54%. W. R. Berkley’s payout ratio is 8.21%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On W. R. Berkley

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of WRB. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in W. R. Berkley by 55.1% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 7,366,424 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $417,897,000 after buying an additional 2,616,227 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 211.3% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,674,171 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $208,436,000 after acquiring an additional 2,493,758 shares during the last quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 50.8% during the 3rd quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 4,646 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $264,000 after purchasing an additional 1,566 shares during the period. Garden State Investment Advisory Services LLC purchased a new stake in W. R. Berkley in the third quarter valued at approximately $233,000. Finally, Retirement Systems of Alabama lifted its stake in W. R. Berkley by 46.5% during the third 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 in 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.