W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) Cut to "Hold" at StockNews.com

StockNews.com downgraded shares of W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report issued on Friday morning.

A number of other equities research analysts have also weighed in on WRB. Wells Fargo & Company lowered W. R. Berkley from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $70.00 to $69.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Bank of America reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $74.00 target price (up previously from $73.00) on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. Barclays lifted their price target on W. R. Berkley from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $64.00 to $62.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated a "sector perform" rating and set a $63.00 price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $66.59.

W. R. Berkley Price Performance

Shares of WRB traded up $0.83 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $69.19. 128,881 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,010,615. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $64.09 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $61.15. W. R. Berkley has a 52-week low of $50.73 and a 52-week high of $76.38. The company has a market cap of $26.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.86, a PEG ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The insurance provider reported $1.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.95 by $0.18. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 20.83% and a net margin of 12.88%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that W. R. Berkley will post 4.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.46%. W. R. Berkley's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.34%.

Institutional Trading of W. R. Berkley

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WRB. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 36,436,473 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $2,132,262,000 after buying an additional 529,294 shares during the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 11,722,476 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $685,999,000 after purchasing an additional 116,957 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,694,703 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $449,168,000 after purchasing an additional 103,350 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 55.1% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 7,366,424 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $417,897,000 after buying an additional 2,616,227 shares during the last quarter. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its stake in W. R. Berkley by 15.2% in the 4th quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 4,787,361 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $280,156,000 after buying an additional 632,578 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.