Shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) have been assigned a consensus rating of "Hold" from the twelve analysts that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, seven have assigned a hold recommendation and four have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $68.39.
Several equities research analysts recently commented on WRB shares. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, April 11th. StockNews.com cut W. R. Berkley from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, April 11th. UBS Group raised their target price on W. R. Berkley from $73.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday. Bank of America reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $74.00 target price (up from $73.00) on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $69.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd.
Read Our Latest Stock Analysis on W. R. Berkley
Institutional Trading of W. R. Berkley
A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WRB. Mather Group LLC. raised its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 2.5% in the 1st quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 5,929 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $422,000 after purchasing an additional 142 shares in the last quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 2.0% during the 1st quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,029 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $571,000 after purchasing an additional 155 shares during the period. Pullen Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Pullen Investment Management LLC now owns 22,954 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $1,343,000 after purchasing an additional 161 shares during the period. CHB Investment Group LLC lifted its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. CHB Investment Group LLC now owns 50,557 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $3,598,000 after buying an additional 172 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wedmont Private Capital lifted its stake in W. R. Berkley by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 8,038 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $456,000 after buying an additional 181 shares in the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
W. R. Berkley Price Performance
W. R. Berkley stock opened at $71.26 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The company has a market capitalization of $27.03 billion, a PE ratio of 16.33, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.40. W. R. Berkley has a 12 month low of $51.17 and a 12 month high of $76.38. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $65.91 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $62.01.
W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.08 by ($0.07). The company had revenue of $3.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.01 billion. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.88% and a return on equity of 20.83%. Analysts expect that W. R. Berkley will post 4.33 EPS for the current year.
W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement
The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd were issued a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. W. R. Berkley's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.42%.
About W. R. Berkley
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Get Free ReportW. 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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