W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) Receives Consensus Recommendation of "Hold" from Analysts

Key Points

• W.R. Berkley Corporation has been given an average recommendation of "Hold" by fourteen analysts, with one sell rating, nine holds, and four buy ratings.
• The company's average twelve-month price target is $75.67, and recent price targets from analysts range from $75.00 to $87.00.
• W.R. Berkley reported earnings of $1.10 per share, exceeding estimates, and a revenue of $3.16 billion for the last quarter, marking a 10.8% year-over-year increase.

Shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) have been assigned an average recommendation of "Hold" from the fourteen ratings firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $75.6667.

Several research firms have weighed in on WRB. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on shares of W.R. Berkley from $76.00 to $75.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Truist Financial set a $84.00 price target on shares of W.R. Berkley and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "buy (b)" rating on shares of W.R. Berkley in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. TD Cowen lowered shares of 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. Finally, UBS Group set a $87.00 price target on shares of W.R. Berkley and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th.

W.R. Berkley Price Performance

Shares of NYSE WRB opened at $75.00 on Wednesday. W.R. Berkley has a twelve month low of $55.97 and a twelve month high of $78.48. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $73.79 and a 200 day simple moving average of $71.94. The company has a market capitalization of $28.45 billion, a PE ratio of 15.76, a P/E/G ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a quick ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 20th. The insurance provider reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.07 by $0.03. W.R. Berkley had a net margin of 13.01% and a return on equity of 19.35%. The firm had revenue of $3.16 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.16 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.93 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that W.R. Berkley will post 4.33 EPS for the current year.

W.R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Monday, September 22nd were given a $0.09 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 22nd. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. W.R. Berkley's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.20%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On W.R. Berkley

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WRB. Hilltop National Bank bought a new stake in W.R. Berkley in the 2nd quarter worth about $27,000. Twin Peaks Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in W.R. Berkley in the 2nd quarter valued at about $27,000. Spectrum Wealth Counsel LLC purchased a new stake in W.R. Berkley in the 1st quarter valued at about $29,000. Elevation Point Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in W.R. Berkley in the 2nd quarter valued at about $34,000. Finally, N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC purchased a new stake in W.R. Berkley in the 1st quarter valued at about $36,000. Institutional investors own 68.82% of the company's stock.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.