W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) Issues Quarterly Earnings Results

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday. The insurance provider reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.01, Briefing.com reports. The company had revenue of $2.93 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.93 billion. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.05% and a return on equity of 21.34%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.90 EPS.

W. R. Berkley Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:WRB opened at $61.03 on Tuesday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $58.24 and a 200-day simple moving average of $55.55. W. R. Berkley has a 52 week low of $41.82 and a 52 week high of $61.96. The company has a market cap of $23.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.23, a P/E/G ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a quick ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 0.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 23rd were paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 23rd. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.51%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Bank of America lifted their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $65.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. UBS Group lifted their price target on W. R. Berkley from $66.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. TD Cowen initiated coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research report on Monday, July 1st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $68.67 price objective on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Tuesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $61.69.

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.