W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) Upgraded 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.

Several other brokerages also recently issued reports on WRB. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $63.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. UBS Group increased their target price on W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Bank of America lifted their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $63.08.

W. R. Berkley Stock Performance

NYSE WRB opened at $59.65 on Tuesday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $58.41 and a 200 day moving average price of $56.06. The company has a market capitalization of $22.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.29, a PEG ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 0.62. W. R. Berkley has a 1-year low of $45.44 and a 1-year high of $61.96. 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 quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.01. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 20.41% and a net margin of 11.96%. The business had revenue of $2.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.93 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.90 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that W. R. Berkley will post 3.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 23rd were paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 23rd. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.54%. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.21%.

Institutional Trading of W. R. Berkley

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Sanctuary Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley during the 2nd quarter valued at $4,801,000. Prudential PLC lifted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 205.9% during the second quarter. Prudential PLC now owns 68,526 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $5,385,000 after purchasing an additional 46,125 shares in the last quarter. Markel Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 50.0% in the third quarter. Markel Group Inc. now owns 60,750 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $3,446,000 after buying an additional 20,250 shares during the period. Stoneridge Investment Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley in the second quarter valued at about $3,245,000. Finally, Atria Investments Inc raised its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 49.9% during the 3rd quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 92,574 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $5,252,000 after buying an additional 30,833 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.