Q1 EPS Estimates for W. R. Berkley Lifted by Zacks Research

W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) – Research analysts at Zacks Research boosted their Q1 2026 EPS estimates for shares of W. R. Berkley in a research report issued on Monday, December 30th. Zacks Research analyst T. De now expects that the insurance provider will earn $1.27 per share for the quarter, up from their previous forecast of $1.23. The consensus estimate for W. R. Berkley’s current full-year earnings is $3.96 per share.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on the company. StockNews.com downgraded W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 25th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Truist Financial upped their price target on W. R. Berkley from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $64.28.

W. R. Berkley Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE WRB opened at $58.01 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.11 billion, a PE ratio of 14.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a current ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. W. R. Berkley has a 12-month low of $47.59 and a 12-month high of $65.49. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $60.33 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $58.10.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $2.93 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.93 billion. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 11.96% and a return on equity of 20.41%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.90 earnings per share.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 48.6% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 15,121,001 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $857,814,000 after purchasing an additional 4,947,830 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 51.0% during the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 11,321,958 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $642,294,000 after acquiring an additional 3,825,238 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 47.9% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,591,353 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $429,266,000 after acquiring an additional 2,459,073 shares in the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 0.7% in the second quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 7,553,875 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $593,584,000 after acquiring an additional 54,530 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in W. R. Berkley by 55.1% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 7,366,424 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $417,897,000 after purchasing an additional 2,616,227 shares during the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th were paid a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.21%.

About W. R. Berkley

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.