W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) Upgraded to “Buy” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note published on Tuesday morning.

WRB has been the subject of several other reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $59.00 to $58.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Barclays began coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. They set an “underweight” rating and a $56.00 price objective for the company. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $63.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. 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 research note on Thursday, October 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $63.08.

W. R. Berkley Trading Down 0.0 %

WRB stock opened at $60.40 on Tuesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $58.42 and a 200 day moving average price of $55.96. W. R. Berkley has a fifty-two week low of $45.30 and a fifty-two week high of $61.96. The firm has a market cap of $23.02 billion, a PE ratio of 15.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a current ratio of 0.36.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $2.93 billion during 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 business’s revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.90 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that W. R. Berkley will post 3.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 23rd were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 23rd. W. R. Berkley’s payout ratio is 8.20%.

Institutional Trading of W. R. Berkley

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in WRB. Quarry LP bought a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley in the 2nd quarter valued at about $42,000. Covestor Ltd raised its stake in W. R. Berkley by 173.0% in the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 546 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $48,000 after buying an additional 346 shares in the last quarter. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. lifted its holdings 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 worth $46,000 after buying an additional 193 shares during the period. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 51.0% in the 3rd quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. now owns 619 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 209 shares during the period. Finally, PFS Partners LLC raised its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 51.1% in the 3rd quarter. PFS Partners LLC now owns 719 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 243 shares in the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by 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.