Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Raises W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) Price Target to $88.00

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) had its price target increased by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $85.00 to $88.00 in a report released on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a market perform rating on the insurance provider's stock.

Several other brokerages have also commented on WRB. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $84.00 to $92.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $73.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock a sector perform rating in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $71.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a market perform rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Evercore ISI reiterated an in-line rating and issued a $79.00 target price (up previously from $69.00) on shares of W. R. Berkley in a report on Tuesday, January 9th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $81.00 to $93.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $84.44.

W. R. Berkley Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of WRB traded up $0.19 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $83.93. 1,139,025 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,187,644. The stock has a market cap of $21.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.59, a P/E/G ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 0.57. The stock's 50-day moving average is $84.31 and its two-hundred day moving average is $74.93. W. R. Berkley has a 12 month low of $55.50 and a 12 month high of $89.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 0.37 and a quick ratio of 0.37.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 24th. The insurance provider reported $1.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.35 by $0.10. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 19.03% and a net margin of 11.38%. The company had revenue of $3.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.70 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.16 earnings per share. W. R. Berkley's revenue was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that W. R. Berkley will post 6.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 4th were issued a $0.11 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 1st. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.52%. W. R. Berkley's payout ratio is 8.70%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On W. R. Berkley

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Morgan Stanley increased its stake 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 acquiring an additional 8,831,553 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake 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 acquiring an additional 8,664,707 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its stake 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 acquiring an additional 4,732,333 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in W. R. Berkley during the fourth quarter worth about $213,635,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its position in 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 buying an additional 1,840,475 shares during the period. 68.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

W. R. Berkley Company Profile

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.