W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) Stock Price Down 4.7% on Analyst Downgrade

W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) shares were down 4.7% during mid-day trading on Tuesday after Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on the stock from $59.00 to $58.00. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods currently has a market perform rating on the stock. W. R. Berkley traded as low as $58.02 and last traded at $58.15. Approximately 576,473 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 68% from the average daily volume of 1,794,437 shares. The stock had previously closed at $61.03.

Other analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Truist Financial upped their target price on W. R. Berkley from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. TD Cowen assumed coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a report on Monday, July 1st. They set a “buy” rating and a $68.67 price target on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $59.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $66.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $62.25.

Institutional Trading of W. R. Berkley

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. raised its stake in W. R. Berkley by 51.0% in the third quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. now owns 619 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 209 shares in the last quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC grew its position in W. R. Berkley by 563.2% in the first quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 451 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 383 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP bought a new position in W. R. Berkley in the second quarter valued at $42,000. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. raised its position in W. R. Berkley by 49.9% during the second quarter. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. now owns 580 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 193 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Covestor Ltd lifted its position in W. R. Berkley by 173.0% in the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 546 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $48,000 after buying an additional 346 shares during the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

W. R. Berkley Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $22.38 billion, a PE ratio of 15.45, a P/E/G ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.38 and a quick ratio of 0.38. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $58.24 and its 200 day simple moving average is $55.55.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $2.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.93 billion. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 21.34% and a net margin of 12.05%. W. R. Berkley’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.90 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 23rd were issued a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 23rd. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.51%.

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.