Truist Financial Trims W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) Target Price to $93.00

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) had its target price trimmed by Truist Financial from $95.00 to $93.00 in a research note published on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a buy rating on the insurance provider’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on WRB. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $92.00 to $99.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $83.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an in-line rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of W. R. Berkley from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $71.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a market perform rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $81.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $90.63.

W. R. Berkley Stock Performance

NYSE WRB opened at $76.65 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $19.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a quick ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $84.26 and a 200-day moving average price of $76.31. W. R. Berkley has a twelve month low of $55.50 and a twelve month high of $89.18.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The insurance provider reported $1.56 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.46 by $0.10. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 21.01% and a net margin of 12.23%. The company had revenue of $2.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.77 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.00 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that W. R. Berkley will post 5.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 4th were given a dividend of $0.11 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 1st. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.57%. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 7.80%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WRB. EULAV Asset Management increased its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 4.4% in the 3rd quarter. EULAV Asset Management now owns 945,260 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $60,015,000 after acquiring an additional 39,716 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in W. R. Berkley during the 4th quarter valued at about $8,970,000. NatWest Group plc purchased a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley in the 4th quarter valued at about $8,791,000. Financial Strategies Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 29.6% in the 4th quarter. Financial Strategies Group Inc. now owns 53,112 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $4,126,000 after buying an additional 12,140 shares during the period. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 11.7% in the 4th quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 185,251 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $13,101,000 after buying an additional 19,408 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.