Brokerages Set W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) PT at $63.08

W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Hold” by the twelve brokerages that are covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $63.08.

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Barclays assumed coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. They set an “underweight” rating and a $56.00 price target on the stock. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on W. R. Berkley from $63.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. StockNews.com raised W. R. Berkley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their target price on W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On W. R. Berkley

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 59.7% during the third quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 59,115 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $3,353,000 after purchasing an additional 22,095 shares in the last quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc. lifted its position in W. R. Berkley by 47.9% during the 3rd quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc. now owns 18,465 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,048,000 after acquiring an additional 5,983 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB boosted its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 50.0% in the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 14,766 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $838,000 after acquiring an additional 4,922 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC grew its position in W. R. Berkley by 60.5% in the third quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 336,027 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $19,063,000 after acquiring an additional 126,664 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Asset Management Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 43.3% during the third quarter. Asset Management Group Inc. now owns 64,482 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $3,658,000 after purchasing an additional 19,499 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

W. R. Berkley Stock Down 0.0 %

WRB stock opened at $60.40 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 0.36 and a quick ratio of 0.38. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $58.42 and its 200-day simple moving average is $55.96. W. R. Berkley has a 12 month low of $45.30 and a 12 month high of $61.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.02 billion, a PE ratio of 15.47, a P/E/G ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 0.62.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.01. 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 20.41% and a net margin of 11.96%. W. R. Berkley’s revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.90 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that W. R. Berkley will post 3.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 23rd were given a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 23rd. W. R. Berkley’s payout ratio is currently 8.20%.

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.