W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) Price Target Raised to $70.00

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) had its price objective raised by Wells Fargo & Company from $67.00 to $70.00 in a research report sent to investors on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the insurance provider’s stock.

A number of other brokerages also recently issued reports on WRB. Evercore ISI raised 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, October 22nd. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $56.00 to $50.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on W. R. Berkley from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price target on W. R. Berkley from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, W. R. Berkley has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $64.36.

W. R. Berkley Price Performance

Shares of NYSE WRB opened at $59.29 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $22.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.19, a PEG ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 0.67. W. R. Berkley has a twelve month low of $50.73 and a twelve month high of $65.49. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The company has a 50 day moving average of $60.01 and a 200 day moving average of $58.48.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The insurance provider reported $1.13 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.95 by $0.18. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 20.41% and a net margin of 11.96%. As a group, research analysts expect that W. R. Berkley will post 3.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.54%. W. R. Berkley’s payout ratio is 8.20%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On W. R. Berkley

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. MML Investors Services LLC raised its stake in W. R. Berkley by 49.0% during the 3rd quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 39,035 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,214,000 after purchasing an additional 12,830 shares during the period. GSA Capital Partners LLP purchased a new stake in W. R. Berkley during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $732,000. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 53.6% during the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 737,472 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $41,837,000 after buying an additional 257,211 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 104.1% in the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 4,154,783 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $235,701,000 after buying an additional 2,118,641 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sanctuary Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley during the second quarter worth $4,801,000. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About W. R. Berkley

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.