W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) Raised to “Buy” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday morning.

Other equities research analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on W. R. Berkley from $99.00 to $94.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Truist Financial dropped their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $95.00 to $93.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $93.00 to $87.00 and set a market perform rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on W. R. Berkley from $86.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $81.00 to $93.00 and gave the company 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 data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $90.38.

W. R. Berkley Stock Performance

Shares of WRB opened at $78.54 on Friday. W. R. Berkley has a 52-week low of $55.50 and a 52-week high of $89.18. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a current ratio of 0.37. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $83.42 and its 200 day simple moving average is $77.17.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last released 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. The firm had revenue of $2.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.77 billion. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.23% and a return on equity of 21.01%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.00 EPS. Research analysts forecast that W. R. Berkley will post 5.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 4th were paid a $0.11 dividend. 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 0.56%. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is presently 7.80%.

Institutional Trading of W. R. Berkley

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC purchased a new stake in W. R. Berkley during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Glassman Wealth Services raised its stake in W. R. Berkley by 123.1% during the 4th quarter. Glassman Wealth Services now owns 357 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 197 shares during the period. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust boosted its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 106.1% in the third quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 406 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 209 shares during the period. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 132.6% during the 3rd quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 414 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 236 shares during the period. Finally, VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC bought a new position in W. R. Berkley in the 3rd quarter worth $27,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

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.