W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) - Equities researchers at Zacks Research increased their Q1 2024 earnings estimates for shares of W. R. Berkley in a report issued on Monday, April 15th. Zacks Research analyst T. De now anticipates that the insurance provider will post earnings of $1.47 per share for the quarter, up from their previous forecast of $1.46. The consensus estimate for W. R. Berkley's current full-year earnings is $5.98 per share. Zacks Research also issued estimates for W. R. Berkley's Q2 2024 earnings at $1.45 EPS, Q3 2024 earnings at $1.43 EPS, Q4 2024 earnings at $1.56 EPS, FY2024 earnings at $5.92 EPS, Q1 2025 earnings at $1.74 EPS, Q2 2025 earnings at $1.83 EPS, Q3 2025 earnings at $1.57 EPS, Q4 2025 earnings at $1.54 EPS and FY2025 earnings at $6.68 EPS.
Several other analysts have also recently issued reports on WRB. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $83.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $71.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $92.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $85.00 to $88.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of W. R. Berkley from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $89.22.
View Our Latest Research Report on W. R. Berkley
W. R. Berkley Price Performance
Shares of NYSE WRB traded down $1.41 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $80.71. 1,670,525 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,189,662. The company's 50-day moving average is $84.47 and its two-hundred day moving average is $75.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 0.37 and a quick ratio of 0.37. The company has a market capitalization of $20.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.95, a PEG ratio of 1.52 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.
W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 24th. The insurance provider reported $1.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.35 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $3.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.70 billion. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 11.38% and a return on equity of 19.03%. The business's revenue was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.16 EPS.
W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend
The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 13th. Investors of record on Monday, March 4th were given a dividend of $0.11 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 1st. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.55%. W. R. Berkley's payout ratio is 8.70%.
Institutional Inflows and Outflows
A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Morgan Stanley raised its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 427.2% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 10,899,093 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $790,947,000 after purchasing an additional 8,831,553 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 55.3% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,331,473 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $1,620,232,000 after purchasing an additional 8,664,707 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 65.6% during the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 11,940,770 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $795,136,000 after purchasing an additional 4,732,333 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley during the fourth quarter worth $213,635,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 119.7% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,377,556 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $224,911,000 after purchasing an additional 1,840,475 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.82% of the company's stock.
About W. R. Berkley
(
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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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