W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) Price Target Cut to $86.00

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) had its price objective cut by Royal Bank of Canada from $88.00 to $86.00 in a report released on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a sector perform rating on the insurance provider’s stock.

WRB has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $83.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an in-line rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $99.00 to $94.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. StockNews.com lowered shares of W. R. Berkley from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $93.00 to $87.00 and set a market perform rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $86.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $90.63.

W. R. Berkley Price Performance

Shares of W. R. Berkley stock opened at $76.65 on Wednesday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $84.26 and a 200-day simple moving average of $76.31. The company has a current ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. W. R. Berkley has a 1-year low of $55.50 and a 1-year high of $89.18. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.59, a PEG ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 0.57.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The insurance provider reported $1.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.46 by $0.10. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.23% and a return on equity of 21.01%. The business had revenue of $2.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.77 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.00 earnings per share. W. R. Berkley’s revenue was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that W. R. Berkley will post 5.89 earnings per share for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced 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 was Friday, March 1st. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.57%. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is presently 7.80%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On W. R. Berkley

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Glassman Wealth Services boosted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 123.1% in the 4th quarter. Glassman Wealth Services now owns 357 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 197 shares in the last quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust boosted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 106.1% in the 3rd quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 406 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 209 shares in the last quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 132.6% in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley in the 3rd quarter valued at $27,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.