W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) Upgraded at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday.

Several other analysts have also commented on WRB. Bank of America boosted their price target on W. R. Berkley from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $59.00 to $58.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a report on Thursday, December 5th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $65.00 price target for the company. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $64.28.

W. R. Berkley Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of W. R. Berkley stock opened at $60.78 on Wednesday. W. R. Berkley has a 52-week low of $45.75 and a 52-week high of $65.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.16 billion, a PE ratio of 15.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 0.65. 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 company’s fifty day moving average price is $60.40 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $57.48.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last posted its 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 firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.90 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that W. R. Berkley will post 3.96 EPS for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th will be paid a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 16th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.53%. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.20%.

Institutional Trading of W. R. Berkley

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WRB. GSA Capital Partners LLP bought a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley during the third quarter worth approximately $732,000. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 53.6% during the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 737,472 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $41,837,000 after acquiring an additional 257,211 shares during the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley in the 2nd quarter valued at $4,801,000. Atria Investments Inc boosted its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 49.9% in the 3rd quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 92,574 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $5,252,000 after purchasing an additional 30,833 shares during the last quarter. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 104.1% during the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 4,154,783 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $235,701,000 after purchasing an additional 2,118,641 shares during the period. 68.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.