W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) Given Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) have received a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eight research firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $90.63.

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $99.00 to $94.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Truist Financial decreased their price target on W. R. Berkley from $95.00 to $93.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on W. R. Berkley from $85.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on W. R. Berkley from $86.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. EULAV Asset Management increased its holdings 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 valued at $60,015,000 after acquiring an additional 39,716 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley in the 4th quarter valued at $8,970,000. NatWest Group plc purchased a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley in the 4th quarter valued at $8,791,000. Financial Strategies Group Inc. increased its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 12,140 shares during the period. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC increased its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 19,408 shares during the period. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

W. R. Berkley Price Performance

NYSE:WRB opened at $77.85 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.39, a PEG ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.57. W. R. Berkley has a 1 year low of $55.50 and a 1 year high of $89.18. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $84.47 and a 200-day simple moving average of $76.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 0.37 and a quick ratio of 0.37.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The insurance provider reported $1.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.46 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $2.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.77 billion. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 19.03% and a net margin of 11.38%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.00 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that W. R. Berkley will post 5.94 EPS for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 4th were issued a dividend of $0.11 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 1st. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.57%. W. R. Berkley’s payout ratio is currently 8.70%.

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.