W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) Shares Gap Up – Still a Buy?

W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) shares gapped up before the market opened on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $66.28, but opened at $70.82. W. R. Berkley shares last traded at $71.91, with a volume of 2,142,622 shares changing hands.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on WRB. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $63.00 target price on shares of W. R. Berkley in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Barclays raised their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on W. R. Berkley in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $65.00 target price on the stock. StockNews.com raised W. R. Berkley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $64.36.

W. R. Berkley Trading Up 7.8 %

The firm has a market cap of $27.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.36, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.63. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $61.47 and its 200-day simple moving average is $60.07. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last released its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The insurance provider reported $1.13 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.95 by $0.18. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 20.83% and a net margin of 12.88%. As a group, research analysts predict that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were paid a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.45%. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 7.34%.

Institutional Trading of W. R. Berkley

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. 111 Capital bought a new stake in W. R. Berkley during the 4th quarter valued at $304,000. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its stake in W. R. Berkley by 376.1% in the fourth quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 63,750 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $3,731,000 after buying an additional 50,361 shares in the last quarter. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH lifted its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 8.0% during the fourth quarter. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH now owns 13,491 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $789,000 after buying an additional 995 shares during the period. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new stake in W. R. Berkley during the 4th quarter valued at $14,057,000. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley in the 4th quarter valued at $5,676,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.