W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) Price Target Cut to $50.00 by Analysts at Barclays

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) had its target price trimmed by Barclays from $56.00 to $50.00 in a research report report published on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an underweight rating on the insurance provider’s stock.

Several other brokerages have also recently weighed in on WRB. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Morgan Stanley started coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a report on Thursday, December 5th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $65.00 price objective on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on W. R. Berkley from $63.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised W. R. Berkley from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $69.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday, November 25th. 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $63.82.

W. R. Berkley Stock Performance

NYSE:WRB opened at $57.18 on Monday. W. R. Berkley has a 52 week low of $47.59 and a 52 week high of $65.49. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $60.33 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $58.20. 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 company has a market cap of $21.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 0.67.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last released its earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.93 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 analysts’ expectations of $2.93 billion. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 20.41% and a net margin of 11.96%. W. R. Berkley’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.90 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that W. R. Berkley will post 3.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th were paid a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.21%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On W. R. Berkley

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of WRB. National Bank of Canada FI grew its position in W. R. Berkley by 6.7% during the 2nd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 113,724 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $8,980,000 after purchasing an additional 7,164 shares during the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC increased its position in W. R. Berkley by 373.5% in the 2nd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 6,014 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $471,000 after acquiring an additional 4,744 shares during the period. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC raised its stake in W. R. Berkley by 32.1% during the 2nd quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC now owns 3,134 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $246,000 after acquiring an additional 761 shares during the last quarter. Prudential PLC lifted its position in W. R. Berkley by 205.9% during the 2nd quarter. Prudential PLC now owns 68,526 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $5,385,000 after acquiring an additional 46,125 shares during the period. Finally, Wedbush Securities Inc. grew its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 4.3% in the 2nd quarter. Wedbush Securities Inc. now owns 9,979 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $784,000 after purchasing an additional 408 shares during 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.