W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) Rating Lowered to Equal Weight at Wells Fargo & Company

Wells Fargo & Company lowered shares of W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating in a report published on Wednesday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. They currently have $69.00 price target on the insurance provider’s stock, down from their prior price target of $70.00.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently commented on the company. StockNews.com downgraded W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $63.00 target price on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Truist Financial boosted their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $68.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, W. R. Berkley currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $65.13.

W. R. Berkley Trading Up 1.1 %

NYSE:WRB traded up $0.74 on Wednesday, reaching $67.67. The stock had a trading volume of 966,545 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,796,149. W. R. Berkley has a 12-month low of $50.73 and a 12-month high of $76.38. The company has a market cap of $25.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.50, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.40. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $63.46 and its two-hundred day moving average is $60.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 0.36 and a quick ratio of 0.36.

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

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 0.47%. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 7.34%.

Institutional Trading of W. R. Berkley

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Heritage Family Offices LLP lifted its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 22.4% in the 1st quarter. Heritage Family Offices LLP now owns 10,218 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $727,000 after buying an additional 1,872 shares in the last quarter. Unigestion Holding SA lifted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 113.7% in the first quarter. Unigestion Holding SA now owns 29,656 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,110,000 after acquiring an additional 15,776 shares in the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 83.2% in the first quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 17,532 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,248,000 after purchasing an additional 7,961 shares during the last quarter. Baxter Bros Inc. grew its stake in W. R. Berkley by 21.5% during the 1st quarter. Baxter Bros Inc. now owns 73,458 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $5,227,000 after purchasing an additional 13,013 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fiduciary Alliance LLC increased its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 9.9% during the 1st quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC now owns 8,163 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $581,000 after purchasing an additional 733 shares during the last quarter. 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.