W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) Stock Price Passes Above 200-Day Moving Average of $79.41

W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)’s stock price passed above its two hundred day moving average during trading on Friday . The stock has a two hundred day moving average of $79.41 and traded as high as $81.45. W. R. Berkley shares last traded at $80.49, with a volume of 1,836,469 shares traded.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on W. R. Berkley from $88.00 to $86.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $99.00 to $94.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $88.00 to $86.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. StockNews.com lowered W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, June 14th. Finally, Truist Financial reduced their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $95.00 to $93.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, W. R. Berkley has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $88.88.

W. R. Berkley Stock Down 0.7 %

The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The company has a market cap of $20.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a fifty day moving average of $79.36 and a 200 day moving average of $79.41.

W. R. Berkley shares are going to split on the morning of Wednesday, July 10th. The 3-2 split was announced on Wednesday, June 12th. The newly minted shares will be payable to shareholders after the market closes on Tuesday, July 9th.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The insurance provider reported $1.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.46 by $0.10. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 20.51% and a net margin of 12.23%. The business had revenue of $2.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.77 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.00 earnings per share. W. R. Berkley’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 5.82 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 24th will be issued a dividend of $0.12 per share. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.60%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 24th. This is a positive change from W. R. Berkley’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.11. W. R. Berkley’s payout ratio is currently 7.80%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On W. R. Berkley

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in WRB. Kestra Advisory Services LLC boosted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 15.3% in the third quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC now owns 6,798 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $432,000 after acquiring an additional 900 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 33.6% in the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 758,269 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $48,143,000 after acquiring an additional 190,500 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC lifted its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 57.2% in the third quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 108,718 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $6,903,000 after buying an additional 39,561 shares in the last quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board purchased a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley in the third quarter worth about $751,000. Finally, Mariner LLC lifted its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 28.4% in the third quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 41,199 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,616,000 after buying an additional 9,116 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.