Brokerages Set W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) Price Target at $59.67

W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) has been given an average recommendation of “Hold” by the ten ratings firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $77.70.

A number of brokerages have weighed in on WRB. Truist Financial boosted their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $62.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $88.00 to $83.00 in a report on Thursday, June 13th. TD Cowen began coverage on W. R. Berkley in a research note on Monday, July 1st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $103.00 target price for the company. StockNews.com downgraded W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. Finally, Barclays initiated coverage on W. R. Berkley in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. They issued an “underweight” rating and a $56.00 price target on the stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Sanctuary Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in W. R. Berkley in the second quarter worth $4,801,000. Delphi Management Inc. MA increased its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. Delphi Management Inc. MA now owns 21,217 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,667,000 after buying an additional 340 shares in the last quarter. Granite Bay Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in W. R. Berkley during the second quarter worth about $564,000. Truist Financial Corp grew its stake in W. R. Berkley by 3.4% in the second quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 811,844 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $63,795,000 after acquiring an additional 26,738 shares during the period. Finally, Brandes Investment Partners LP grew its stake in W. R. Berkley by 18.6% in the second quarter. Brandes Investment Partners LP now owns 699,387 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $54,997,000 after acquiring an additional 109,864 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

W. R. Berkley Stock Down 0.5 %

NYSE WRB opened at $57.52 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $56.68 and its 200 day simple moving average is $73.34. W. R. Berkley has a one year low of $41.37 and a one year high of $61.28. The firm has a market cap of $22.06 billion, a PE ratio of 15.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.38 and a quick ratio of 0.38.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last announced its earnings results on Monday, July 22nd. The insurance provider reported $1.04 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.12. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 21.34% and a net margin of 12.05%. The company had revenue of $3.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.84 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.14 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that W. R. Berkley will post 4.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 23rd will be paid a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 23rd. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.56%. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.51%.

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.