W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) Receives $72.54 Consensus Price Target from Analysts

Key Points

• W.R. Berkley Corporation has received an average recommendation of "Hold" from thirteen ratings firms, with one sell, nine hold, two buy, and one strong buy ratings.
• The company's stock has a twelve-month price target averaging $72.54 among analysts, while recent ratings from Barclays and UBS suggest a moderate outlook with price targets of $66.00 and $80.00, respectively.
• W.R. Berkley recently increased its quarterly dividend from $0.08 to $0.09, representing a 0.5% yield and a payout ratio of 8.20%.

W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) has been given a consensus rating of "Hold" by the thirteen ratings firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, nine have assigned a hold recommendation, two have assigned a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $72.5385.

WRB has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on W.R. Berkley from $71.00 to $68.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. UBS Group lifted their price target on W.R. Berkley from $78.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. TD Cowen cut W.R. Berkley from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $78.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Friday, June 27th. Barclays raised their price target on W.R. Berkley from $62.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Monday, July 7th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded W.R. Berkley to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 13th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of WRB. Hilltop National Bank bought a new position in shares of W.R. Berkley during the 2nd quarter valued at $27,000. Twin Peaks Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in W.R. Berkley during the second quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Spectrum Wealth Counsel LLC purchased a new stake in shares of W.R. Berkley during the first quarter valued at $29,000. Garde Capital Inc. acquired a new position in W.R. Berkley during the first quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, Elevation Point Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of W.R. Berkley during the second quarter worth about $34,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.82% of the company's stock.

W.R. Berkley Price Performance

NYSE:WRB traded up $0.28 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $72.26. 1,320,433 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,603,225. W.R. Berkley has a twelve month low of $55.80 and a twelve month high of $76.38. The firm has a market cap of $27.41 billion, a PE ratio of 16.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 0.41. The stock's 50-day moving average is $70.39 and its 200-day moving average is $69.32. The company has a current ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.03 by $0.02. W.R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.32% and a return on equity of 18.83%. The company had revenue of $3.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.10 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.04 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that W.R. Berkley will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W.R. Berkley Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 23rd were paid a $0.09 dividend. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. This is a boost from W.R. Berkley's previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 23rd. W.R. Berkley's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.20%.

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.