W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) Announces Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.01 EPS

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday. The insurance provider reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.01, Briefing.com reports. The company had revenue of $2.93 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.93 billion. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 21.34% and a net margin of 12.05%. W. R. Berkley’s revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.90 EPS.

W. R. Berkley Stock Down 4.1 %

W. R. Berkley stock opened at $58.53 on Wednesday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $58.28 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $55.55. The stock has a market cap of $22.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.57, a PEG ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 0.62. W. R. Berkley has a 52 week low of $41.82 and a 52 week high of $61.96. The company has a current ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Monday, September 23rd were issued a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.55%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 23rd. W. R. Berkley’s payout ratio is currently 8.51%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. TD Cowen began coverage on W. R. Berkley in a research note on Monday, July 1st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $68.67 price target on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price on W. R. Berkley from $59.00 to $58.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Barclays assumed coverage on W. R. Berkley in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. They set an “underweight” rating and a $56.00 target price for the company. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Tuesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $63.08.

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.