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

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

A number of other equities analysts have also issued reports on WRB. StockNews.com lowered shares of W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, UBS Group lifted 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 research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $63.08.

W. R. Berkley Stock Performance

Shares of W. R. Berkley stock opened at $58.53 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 0.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.57, a P/E/G ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 0.62. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $58.28 and its two-hundred day moving average is $55.55. W. R. Berkley has a 52 week low of $41.82 and a 52 week high of $61.96.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last announced its earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $2.93 billion for 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 company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.90 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that W. R. Berkley will post 4.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in WRB. AdvisorNet Financial Inc raised its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 15.9% during the 1st quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 1,436 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $127,000 after buying an additional 197 shares during the last quarter. West Paces Advisors Inc. raised its stake in W. R. Berkley by 12.7% in the 1st quarter. West Paces Advisors Inc. now owns 1,228 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $109,000 after purchasing an additional 138 shares during the last quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC raised its stake in W. R. Berkley by 563.2% in the 1st quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 451 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 383 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its stake in W. R. Berkley by 6.1% in the 1st quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 7,464 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $660,000 after purchasing an additional 429 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Thrive Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in W. R. Berkley by 6.4% in the 1st quarter. Thrive Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,378 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $299,000 after purchasing an additional 204 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

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.