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.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $73.33 to $83.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 26th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted 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. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $68.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, May 23rd. Argus began coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research report on Wednesday, August 3rd. They set a "buy" rating and a $72.00 price target on the stock. Finally, StockNews.com lowered W. R. Berkley from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, July 25th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $70.03.

W. R. Berkley Trading Up 2.2 %

WRB Stock traded up $1.45 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $68.05. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,348,645 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,439,884. The company has a market cap of $18.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 0.65. The business's 50 day moving average price is $65.50 and its 200 day moving average price is $65.31. The company has a current ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. W. R. Berkley has a 12 month low of $47.13 and a 12 month high of $72.32.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 company posted $0.78 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that W. R. Berkley will post 4.1 EPS for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 7th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 27th were issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. This is an increase from W. R. Berkley's previous quarterly dividend of $0.09. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 24th. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.59%. W. R. Berkley's payout ratio is currently 8.42%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Mark Ellwood Brockbank acquired 4,566 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 29th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $62.00 per share, for a total transaction of $283,092.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 4,566 shares in the company, valued at approximately $283,092. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 22.50% of the company's stock.