FY2025 EPS Estimate for W.R. Berkley Decreased by Analyst

Key Points

• Analysts at Cantor Fitzgerald have reduced their FY2025 EPS estimate for W.R. Berkley to $4.21, slightly down from a previous estimate of $4.22.
• The current consensus estimate for W.R. Berkley’s full-year earnings stands at $4.33 per share, with estimates for FY2026 projected at $4.99 EPS.
• W.R. Berkley recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.09 per share, representing an annualized yield of 0.5%.

W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) - Analysts at Cantor Fitzgerald dropped their FY2025 EPS estimates for shares of W.R. Berkley in a report released on Thursday, October 9th. Cantor Fitzgerald analyst R. Tunis now expects that the insurance provider will post earnings per share of $4.21 for the year, down from their prior estimate of $4.22. Cantor Fitzgerald currently has a "Strong-Buy" rating on the stock. The consensus estimate for W.R. Berkley's current full-year earnings is $4.33 per share. Cantor Fitzgerald also issued estimates for W.R. Berkley's FY2026 earnings at $4.99 EPS.

WRB has been the topic of several other reports. TD Cowen lowered shares of W.R. Berkley from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $78.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research note on Monday, September 15th. They set a "peer perform" rating on the stock. UBS Group set a $87.00 price target on shares of W.R. Berkley and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "buy (b)" rating on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of W.R. Berkley from $68.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $73.69.

W.R. Berkley Price Performance

Shares of WRB opened at $77.53 on Friday. W.R. Berkley has a twelve month low of $55.97 and a twelve month high of $78.40. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $72.89 and its 200-day simple moving average is $71.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $29.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.66, a PEG ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a current ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.05 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.03 by $0.02. W.R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.32% and a return on equity of 18.83%. The business had revenue of $3.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.10 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.04 EPS.

W.R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 22nd were issued a $0.09 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 22nd. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. W.R. Berkley's payout ratio is presently 8.20%.

Institutional Trading of W.R. Berkley

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in WRB. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of W.R. Berkley in the second quarter valued at about $367,921,000. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. boosted its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley by 6,503.1% in the second quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 2,561,230 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $188,174,000 after acquiring an additional 2,601,230 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley by 21.8% in the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 5,022,039 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $357,368,000 after purchasing an additional 900,071 shares during the period. Woodline Partners LP lifted its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley by 4,198.9% in the first quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 777,201 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $55,306,000 after purchasing an additional 759,122 shares during the period. Finally, Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley by 7,314.0% in the first quarter. Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC now owns 744,516 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $52,980,000 after purchasing an additional 734,474 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.

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