W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) Stock Rating Lowered by StockNews.com

StockNews.com downgraded shares of W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note released on Thursday morning.

Several other equities analysts have also issued reports on WRB. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target 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. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on W. R. Berkley in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $65.00 target price on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on W. R. Berkley from $68.00 to $67.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $63.74.

W. R. Berkley Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE WRB opened at $60.35 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $60.30 and a 200 day moving average price of $58.43. W. R. Berkley has a 1-year low of $48.69 and a 1-year high of $65.49. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $23.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 0.67.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $2.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.90 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that W. R. Berkley will post 3.95 EPS 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. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.53%. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.21%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On W. R. Berkley

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Mitchell & Pahl Private Wealth LLC grew its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Mitchell & Pahl Private Wealth LLC now owns 21,587 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,263,000 after acquiring an additional 676 shares during the period. Ballentine Partners LLC boosted its position in W. R. Berkley by 5.5% in the 4th quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 14,863 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $870,000 after purchasing an additional 780 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. grew its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 13.2% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 11,986 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $701,000 after purchasing an additional 1,397 shares during the period. Diversify Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 22.7% during the 4th quarter. Diversify Wealth Management LLC now owns 19,440 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,102,000 after purchasing an additional 3,598 shares in the last quarter. Finally, HB Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 10.5% in the 4th quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,066 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $355,000 after purchasing an additional 578 shares during the period. 68.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.