W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) Price Target Cut to $58.00

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) had its price target decreased by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $59.00 to $58.00 in a report issued on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods currently has a market perform rating on the insurance provider’s stock.

WRB has been the subject of a number of other research reports. TD Cowen began coverage on W. R. Berkley in a research note on Monday, July 1st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $68.67 price objective for the company. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $65.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Barclays assumed coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. They set an “underweight” rating and a $56.00 target price for the company. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their price target on W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Tuesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, W. R. Berkley presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $63.08.

W. R. Berkley Trading Down 1.9 %

WRB opened at $58.16 on Tuesday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $58.37 and its 200-day simple moving average is $55.60. The company has a market cap of $22.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.47, a PEG ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 0.62. W. R. Berkley has a one year low of $43.20 and a one year high of $61.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a current ratio of 0.38.

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

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Monday, September 23rd were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 23rd. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.55%. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.51%.

Institutional Trading of W. R. Berkley

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Sound Income Strategies LLC raised its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 563.2% in the first quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 451 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 383 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP purchased a new position in W. R. Berkley during the second quarter worth about $42,000. Covestor Ltd grew its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 173.0% in the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 546 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $48,000 after buying an additional 346 shares during the period. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 49.9% during the 2nd quarter. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. now owns 580 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 193 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 51.0% during the 3rd quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. now owns 619 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 209 shares during the period. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.