Brokerages Set W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) PT at $70.94

Shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Reduce” by the eighteen research firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Six analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, nine have given a hold recommendation and three have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $70.9444.

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Mizuho lifted their price target on W.R. Berkley from $72.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 21st. Argus downgraded W.R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $74.00 target price (up from $70.00) on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of W.R. Berkley from $78.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 21st. Finally, Wolfe Research lowered shares of W.R. Berkley from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On W.R. Berkley

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of WRB. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its position in W.R. Berkley by 75.6% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 50,503 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,955,000 after purchasing an additional 21,737 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC increased its position in shares of W.R. Berkley by 9.7% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 33,990 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,419,000 after purchasing an additional 3,013 shares during the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of W.R. Berkley by 399.0% during the 1st quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 9,506 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $675,000 after purchasing an additional 7,601 shares during the last quarter. Cary Street Partners Financial LLC lifted its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley by 691.9% in the 2nd quarter. Cary Street Partners Financial LLC now owns 586 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 512 shares during the period. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley by 12.0% in the second quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 9,825 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $722,000 after buying an additional 1,056 shares during the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

W.R. Berkley Trading Down 0.5%

Shares of NYSE WRB opened at $69.27 on Tuesday. W.R. Berkley has a 1 year low of $62.87 and a 1 year high of $78.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.37 and a quick ratio of 0.37. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $71.10 and a 200 day moving average of $68.91. The stock has a market cap of $25.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 0.29.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last announced its earnings results on Monday, July 20th. The insurance provider reported $1.27 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08 by $0.19. W.R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.94% and a return on equity of 19.44%. The business had revenue of $3.72 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.28 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.05 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that W.R. Berkley will post 4.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W.R. Berkley Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 23rd were given a $0.10 dividend. This is a boost from W.R. Berkley’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.09. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 23rd. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.6%. W.R. Berkley’s payout ratio is presently 8.21%.

About W.R. Berkley

W. R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE: WRB) is a publicly traded insurance holding company that underwrites and sells commercial property and casualty insurance, specialty insurance products, and reinsurance. Headquartered in Greenwich, Connecticut, the company operates a portfolio of underwriting businesses that focus on niche and specialty commercial risks, offering coverage tailored to industries such as transportation, construction, professional services and other commercial lines.

The company’s product mix includes primary and excess casualty, property, professional liability, environmental and other specialty lines, together with treaty and facultative reinsurance solutions.