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 Stock Performance

Shares of W. R. Berkley stock opened at $65.93 on Monday. W. R. Berkley has a 12 month low of $47.13 and a 12 month high of $72.32. The company has a quick ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The stock has a market cap of $17.49 billion, a PE ratio of 13.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 0.65. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $65.77 and a 200-day simple moving average of $65.21.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.12 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.84 by $0.28. The firm had revenue of $2.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 period last year, the company posted $0.78 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that W. R. Berkley will post 4.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 7th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 27th were paid a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.61%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 24th. This is a positive change from W. R. Berkley's previous quarterly dividend of $0.09. W. R. Berkley's dividend payout ratio is currently 8.42%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WRB has been the subject of several research reports. Truist Financial raised their target price on W. R. Berkley from $73.33 to $83.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 26th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 12th. StockNews.com lowered shares of W. R. Berkley from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, July 25th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley to $83.00 in a research report on Friday, July 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $68.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, May 23rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, W. R. Berkley has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $70.03.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Mark Ellwood Brockbank purchased 1,434 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 1st. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $61.85 per share, for a total transaction of $88,692.90. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 6,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $371,100. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 22.50% of the company's stock.