Brokerages Set W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) Price Target at $68.81

Shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) have been assigned an average rating of “Reduce” from the eighteen research firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, eleven have given a hold recommendation and three have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $68.4375.

A number of analysts have issued reports on WRB shares. BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of W.R. Berkley from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $64.00 to $68.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Cantor Fitzgerald lowered shares of W.R. Berkley from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $75.00 to $71.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of W.R. Berkley from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 20th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered shares of W.R. Berkley from an “overweight” rating to an “underweight” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $64.00 to $58.00 in a research note on Monday. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on shares of W.R. Berkley from $62.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On W.R. Berkley

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Johnson Financial Group Inc. grew its position in shares of W.R. Berkley by 22.3% during the third quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. now owns 756 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $58,000 after buying an additional 138 shares in the last quarter. Maridea Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of W.R. Berkley by 2.0% during the third quarter. Maridea Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,180 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $528,000 after buying an additional 141 shares in the last quarter. Inspire Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of W.R. Berkley by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Inspire Advisors LLC now owns 14,364 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,007,000 after buying an additional 144 shares in the last quarter. Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of W.R. Berkley by 40.2% during the third quarter. Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 523 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 150 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allworth Financial LP grew its position in shares of W.R. Berkley by 4.8% during the third quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 3,328 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $255,000 after buying an additional 153 shares in the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

W.R. Berkley Stock Down 2.6%

Shares of NYSE:WRB opened at $66.76 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.36 and a quick ratio of 0.36. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.85 billion, a PE ratio of 14.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.30. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $66.44 and its two-hundred day moving average is $68.73. W.R. Berkley has a 1 year low of $62.87 and a 1 year high of $78.96.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.13 by $0.17. The company had revenue of $3.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.18 billion. W.R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.64% and a return on equity of 18.92%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.01 earnings per share. Analysts predict that W.R. Berkley will post 4.67 EPS for the current year.

W.R. Berkley Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 23rd will be given a dividend of $0.10 per share. This is a boost from W.R. Berkley’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.09. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 23rd. W.R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is presently 7.63%.

About W.R. Berkley

W. R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE: WRB) is a publicly traded insurance holding company that underwrites and sells commercial property and casualty insurance, specialty insurance products, and reinsurance. Headquartered in Greenwich, Connecticut, the company operates a portfolio of underwriting businesses that focus on niche and specialty commercial risks, offering coverage tailored to industries such as transportation, construction, professional services and other commercial lines.

The company’s product mix includes primary and excess casualty, property, professional liability, environmental and other specialty lines, together with treaty and facultative reinsurance solutions.