W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” by Analysts

W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the thirteen brokerages that are covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have issued a hold recommendation and six have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $63.74.

WRB has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Truist Financial upped 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. Barclays lowered their price target on W. R. Berkley from $56.00 to $50.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective 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. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th.

Institutional Trading of W. R. Berkley

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Financial Strategies Group Inc. lifted its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. Financial Strategies Group Inc. now owns 119,327 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $6,766,000 after buying an additional 4,363 shares during the period. Spire Wealth Management raised its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 1,095.9% during the fourth quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 4,915 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $288,000 after acquiring an additional 4,504 shares in the last quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC lifted its stake in W. R. Berkley by 41.0% in the fourth quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 17,611 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,031,000 after acquiring an additional 5,124 shares during the period. SeaBridge Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 4.9% in the fourth quarter. SeaBridge Investment Advisors LLC now owns 27,044 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,583,000 after acquiring an additional 1,263 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Custom Index Systems LLC increased its position in W. R. Berkley by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. Custom Index Systems LLC now owns 13,001 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $761,000 after purchasing an additional 426 shares during the period. 68.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

W. R. Berkley Stock Performance

Shares of WRB opened at $57.51 on Monday. W. R. Berkley has a 12-month low of $50.73 and a 12-month high of $65.49. The company has a current ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The company has a market cap of $21.91 billion, a PE ratio of 14.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 0.67. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $60.10 and a 200-day moving average price of $58.67.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th were given a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.56%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. W. R. Berkley’s payout ratio is 8.20%.

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.