W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) Receives Average Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the thirteen analysts that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12 month price target among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $64.36.

Several equities analysts have weighed in on WRB shares. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $63.00 price target on shares of W. R. Berkley in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of W. R. Berkley from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $69.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 25th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of W. R. Berkley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th.

Institutional Trading of W. R. Berkley

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in WRB. Optiver Holding B.V. increased its stake in W. R. Berkley by 107.3% in the 4th quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. now owns 427 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 221 shares during the period. Whipplewood Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley during the fourth quarter worth approximately $35,000. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC purchased a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley during the fourth quarter worth approximately $37,000. PFS Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 51.1% during the third quarter. PFS Partners LLC now owns 719 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 243 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $42,000. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

W. R. Berkley Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of WRB opened at $60.42 on Friday. W. R. Berkley has a 1 year low of $50.73 and a 1 year high of $65.49. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $59.21 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $59.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 0.36 and a quick ratio of 0.36. The firm has a market cap of $23.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 0.67.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The insurance provider reported $1.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.95 by $0.18. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.88% and a return on equity of 20.83%. On average, equities analysts expect that W. R. Berkley will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th were paid a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.53%. W. R. Berkley’s payout ratio is 7.33%.

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.