W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) Raised to “Buy” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report sent to investors on Tuesday morning.

WRB has been the topic of several other research reports. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a sector perform rating and set a $57.00 target price on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $55.33 to $59.33 and gave the company an in-line rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $62.00 to $59.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. TD Cowen assumed coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research report on Monday, July 1st. They issued a buy rating and a $68.67 price objective on the stock. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered W. R. Berkley from a buy rating to a neutral rating and dropped their target price for the company from $58.67 to $55.33 in a research report on Thursday, June 13th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $60.07.

W. R. Berkley Price Performance

W. R. Berkley stock opened at $56.71 on Tuesday. W. R. Berkley has a 52-week low of $40.25 and a 52-week high of $59.46. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $54.50 and its 200 day moving average is $54.66. The company has a market cap of $21.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.08, a PEG ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 0.61.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last announced its earnings results on Monday, July 22nd. The insurance provider reported $1.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.12. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.05% and a return on equity of 21.62%. The firm had revenue of $3.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.84 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.14 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that W. R. Berkley will post 3.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 24th were issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. This is an increase from W. R. Berkley’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.07. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.56%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 24th. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.51%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On W. R. Berkley

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. ING Groep NV increased its position in W. R. Berkley by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. ING Groep NV now owns 7,669 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $542,000 after purchasing an additional 128 shares during the period. Wedmont Private Capital raised its stake in W. R. Berkley by 3.0% in the first quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 4,768 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $399,000 after buying an additional 137 shares in the last quarter. West Paces Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 12.7% during the first quarter. West Paces Advisors Inc. now owns 1,228 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $109,000 after buying an additional 138 shares during the period. Quadrant Capital Group LLC boosted its position in W. R. Berkley by 6.8% during the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 2,250 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $159,000 after acquiring an additional 144 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mitchell & Pahl Private Wealth LLC increased its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. Mitchell & Pahl Private Wealth LLC now owns 14,221 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,258,000 after acquiring an additional 145 shares during the period. 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.