W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) Given Consensus Recommendation of "Hold" by Brokerages

W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) has been given a consensus rating of "Hold" by the twelve ratings firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, nine have assigned a hold recommendation and two have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $72.00.

WRB has been the topic of several recent research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered shares of W.R. Berkley from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating and raised their target price for the company from $74.00 to $76.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of W.R. Berkley from $57.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, April 11th. TD Cowen lowered shares of W.R. Berkley from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $78.00 target price for the company. in a report on Friday, June 27th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of W.R. Berkley from $65.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Monday, May 19th. Finally, Bank of America restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $74.00 price target (up from $73.00) on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Optiver Holding B.V. lifted its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley by 107.3% during the 4th quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. now owns 427 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 221 shares in the last quarter. Spectrum Wealth Counsel LLC acquired a new stake in W.R. Berkley during the 1st quarter worth approximately $29,000. Garde Capital Inc. bought a new position in W.R. Berkley in the first quarter valued at approximately $30,000. N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of W.R. Berkley in the first quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Finally, Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC acquired a new position in shares of W.R. Berkley in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $37,000. 68.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

W.R. Berkley Stock Down 0.5%

Shares of WRB opened at $68.83 on Monday. The business's fifty day moving average price is $72.64 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $66.54. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.97, a PEG ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 0.41. W.R. Berkley has a 52 week low of $51.41 and a 52 week high of $76.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.36.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.08 by ($0.07). The firm had revenue of $3.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.01 billion. W.R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.43% and a return on equity of 19.66%. On average, analysts predict that W.R. Berkley will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current year.

W.R. Berkley Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Monday, June 23rd were paid a dividend of $0.09 per share. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 23rd. This is an increase from W.R. Berkley's previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. W.R. Berkley's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.35%.

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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