W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) PT Raised to $68.00 at Wells Fargo & Company

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) had its target price lifted by Wells Fargo & Company from $63.00 to $68.00 in a report issued on Tuesday morning, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an overweight rating on the insurance provider’s stock.

A number of other brokerages have also recently issued reports on WRB. TD Cowen assumed coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a report on Monday, July 1st. They set a “buy” rating and a $68.67 target price on the stock. Truist Financial boosted their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $59.00 to $58.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. StockNews.com lowered W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $66.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $63.08.

W. R. Berkley Stock Performance

WRB stock opened at $58.16 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $22.30 billion, a PE ratio of 15.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 0.62. W. R. Berkley has a 1-year low of $43.20 and a 1-year high of $61.96. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $58.37 and a 200-day moving average price of $55.60. The company has a current ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last posted its earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $2.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.93 billion. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.05% and a return on equity of 21.34%. The business’s revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.90 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that W. R. Berkley will post 4.02 earnings per share for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 23rd were issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 23rd. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.55%. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.51%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,439,361 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,161,417,000 after purchasing an additional 195,763 shares during the period. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC grew its position in W. R. Berkley by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 7,553,875 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $593,584,000 after purchasing an additional 54,530 shares during the last quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. raised its stake in W. R. Berkley by 3.5% during the 2nd quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. now owns 2,698,311 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $197,838,000 after acquiring an additional 92,242 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 7.4% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,037,599 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $160,128,000 after purchasing an additional 139,588 shares during the period. Finally, 1832 Asset Management L.P. increased its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 1.4% during the second quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,929,931 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $151,654,000 after acquiring an additional 26,464 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

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.