W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) Downgraded to “Hold” Rating by StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday morning.

WRB has been the topic of a number of other reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on W. R. Berkley from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Barclays lifted their price target on W. R. Berkley from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded W. R. Berkley from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $69.00 price target on the stock in a report on Monday, November 25th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $63.00 target price on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, W. R. Berkley has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $64.36.

W. R. Berkley Stock Up 2.2 %

WRB stock opened at $62.34 on Friday. 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 stock’s 50 day moving average is $59.27 and its 200-day moving average is $59.31. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.75 billion, a PE ratio of 14.29, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.67.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The insurance provider reported $1.13 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.95 by $0.18. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 20.83% and a net margin of 12.88%. Sell-side analysts expect that W. R. Berkley will post 4.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be given a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.34%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On W. R. Berkley

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 36,436,473 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,132,262,000 after purchasing an additional 529,294 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 48.6% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 15,121,001 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $857,814,000 after purchasing an additional 4,947,830 shares in the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 11,722,476 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $685,999,000 after purchasing an additional 116,957 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 51.0% in the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 11,321,958 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $642,294,000 after purchasing an additional 3,825,238 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,694,703 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $449,168,000 after purchasing an additional 103,350 shares in the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.