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

Key Points

• W.R. Berkley received a consensus analyst rating of “Reduce” from 18 brokerages, with six sell ratings, nine hold ratings, and three buy ratings. The average 12-month price target is about $70.44.
• The company beat quarterly expectations, reporting earnings of $1.27 per share versus $1.08 expected and revenue of $3.72 billion versus $3.28 billion expected. Revenue rose 2.4% year over year, and analysts now expect full-year EPS of 4.74.
• W.R. Berkley raised its quarterly dividend to $0.10 per share from $0.09, equivalent to an annualized dividend of $0.40 and a yield of about 0.5%. Institutional ownership remains high at 68.82% of shares outstanding.

W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) has been given a consensus recommendation of "Reduce" by the eighteen brokerages that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $70.4444.

Several research analysts recently commented on WRB shares. Oppenheimer set a $70.00 target price on shares of W.R. Berkley in a report on Tuesday. Evercore reiterated an "underperform" rating and issued a $68.00 price target on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Bank of America reissued an "underperform" rating and set a $68.00 price target (down from $74.00) on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of W.R. Berkley from $72.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Finally, Barclays reaffirmed an "underweight" rating and issued a $62.00 target price (down from $64.00) on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research report on Friday, June 12th.

W.R. Berkley Trading Up 1.5%

NYSE WRB opened at $73.41 on Friday. W.R. Berkley has a 52 week low of $62.87 and a 52 week high of $78.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.36. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $69.01 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $68.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $27.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.07, a PEG ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.29.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 20th. The insurance provider reported $1.27 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.08 by $0.19. W.R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.94% and a return on equity of 19.49%. The company had revenue of $3.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.28 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.05 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that W.R. Berkley will post 4.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W.R. Berkley Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 23rd were given a dividend of $0.10 per share. This is a positive change from W.R. Berkley's previous quarterly dividend of $0.09. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 23rd. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. W.R. Berkley's payout ratio is presently 8.21%.

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 stock. Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in W.R. Berkley during the fourth quarter worth $3,542,919,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in W.R. Berkley by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 37,033,581 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $2,596,795,000 after acquiring an additional 309,828 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in W.R. Berkley by 1.0% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 14,921,114 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $1,143,256,000 after acquiring an additional 149,605 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of W.R. Berkley in the 4th quarter valued at about $435,752,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its position in shares of W.R. Berkley by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,913,337 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $344,523,000 after acquiring an additional 20,538 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 68.82% of the company's stock.

About W.R. Berkley

W. R. Berkley Corporation NYSE: WRB is a publicly traded insurance holding company that underwrites and sells commercial property and casualty insurance, specialty insurance products, and reinsurance. Headquartered in Greenwich, Connecticut, the company operates a portfolio of underwriting businesses that focus on niche and specialty commercial risks, offering coverage tailored to industries such as transportation, construction, professional services and other commercial lines.

The company's product mix includes primary and excess casualty, property, professional liability, environmental and other specialty lines, together with treaty and facultative reinsurance solutions.

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