W. R. Berkley - WRB Stock Forecast, Price & News

W. R. Berkley Corporation, an insurance holding company, operates as a commercial lines writer in the United States and internationally. It operates in two segments, Insurance and Reinsurance & Monoline Excess. The Insurance segment underwrites commercial insurance business, including premises operations, commercial automobile, property, products liability, and general and professional liability lines. It also provides workers' compensation insurance products; accident and health insurance and reinsurance products; insurance for commercial risks; specialty environmental products for contractors, consultants, and property owners and facilities operators; specialized insurance coverages for fine arts and jewelry exposures; umbrella and excess liability coverage products; and liquor liability and inland marine coverage for small to medium-sized insureds. In addition, this segment offers directors and officers, and surety risk products, as well as products for technology, and life sciences and travel industries; cyber risk solutions; casualty, group life, and crime and fidelity related insurance products; personal lines insurance solutions, including home, condo/co-op, auto, and collectibles; automobile, law enforcement, public officials and educator's legal, and employment practices liability, as well as incidental medical insurance products; and at-risk and alternative risk insurance program management services. The Reinsurance & Monoline Excess segment provides other insurance companies and self-insureds with assistance in managing their net risk through reinsurance on a portfolio basis through treaty reinsurance or on an individual basis through facultative reinsurance. W. R. Berkley Corporation was founded in 1967 and is based in Greenwich, Connecticut.

W. R. Berkley Trading Up 1.1 %

NYSE:WRB opened at $61.83 on Monday. W. R. Berkley has a fifty-two week low of $47.13 and a fifty-two week high of $72.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.39 and a quick ratio of 0.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.40 billion, a PE ratio of 13.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 0.65. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $66.45 and its 200-day simple moving average is $65.12.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Rating) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.12 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.84 by $0.28. The firm had revenue of $2.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.56 billion. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 17.26% and a net margin of 12.71%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.78 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that W. R. Berkley will post 4.06 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 7th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 27th 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 Friday, June 24th. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.65%. W. R. Berkley's payout ratio is 8.42%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WRB has been the subject of a number of research reports. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on W. R. Berkley to $83.00 in a research report on Friday, July 22nd. Argus began coverage on W. R. Berkley in a research report on Wednesday, August 3rd. They set a "buy" rating and a $72.00 target price for the company. StockNews.com lowered W. R. Berkley from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, July 25th. Truist Financial boosted their target price on W. R. Berkley from $73.33 to $83.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 26th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 12th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $70.03.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Mark Ellwood Brockbank purchased 1,434 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 1st. The shares were purchased at an average price of $61.85 per share, with a total value of $88,692.90. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 6,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at $371,100. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 22.30% of the company's stock.