W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) PT Raised to $88.00 at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) had its price target boosted by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $85.00 to $88.00 in a report published on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a market perform rating on the insurance provider’s stock.

Several other brokerages also recently weighed in on WRB. Truist Financial lifted their target price on W. R. Berkley from $83.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $73.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock a sector perform rating in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Evercore ISI reaffirmed an in-line rating and set a $79.00 price target (up from $69.00) on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research note on Tuesday, January 9th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $71.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a market perform rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $84.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $89.22.

W. R. Berkley Trading Down 0.0 %

Shares of WRB stock opened at $82.15 on Wednesday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $84.42 and its two-hundred day moving average is $75.17. W. R. Berkley has a twelve month low of $55.50 and a twelve month high of $89.18. The company has a market capitalization of $21.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a current ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 24th. The insurance provider reported $1.45 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.35 by $0.10. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 19.03% and a net margin of 11.38%. The company had revenue of $3.22 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.70 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.16 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that W. R. Berkley will post 5.98 EPS for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 4th were paid a dividend of $0.11 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 1st. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.54%. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.70%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On W. R. Berkley

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of WRB. Morgan Stanley boosted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 427.2% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 10,899,093 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $790,947,000 after purchasing an additional 8,831,553 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 55.3% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,331,473 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,620,232,000 after purchasing an additional 8,664,707 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 65.6% during the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 11,940,770 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $795,136,000 after purchasing an additional 4,732,333 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley during the 4th quarter worth about $213,635,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 119.7% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,377,556 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $224,911,000 after purchasing an additional 1,840,475 shares during the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.