W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Barclays Analyst Says

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRBFree Report) had its target price hoisted by Barclays from $50.00 to $52.00 in a research report released on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have an underweight rating on the insurance provider’s stock.

WRB has been the topic of several other reports. The Goldman Sachs Group raised W. R. Berkley from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $69.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 25th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on W. R. Berkley from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, StockNews.com cut W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $64.36.

View Our Latest Analysis on WRB

W. R. Berkley Trading Up 0.2 %

W. R. Berkley stock opened at $59.31 on Tuesday. W. R. Berkley has a 1 year low of $50.73 and a 1 year high of $65.49. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $60.05 and its 200-day moving average is $58.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.36. The company has a market cap of $22.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.19, a PEG ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 0.67.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRBGet Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The insurance provider reported $1.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.95 by $0.18. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 11.96% and a return on equity of 20.41%. On average, equities analysts expect that W. R. Berkley will post 3.95 earnings per share for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th were paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.20%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On W. R. Berkley

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of WRB. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 48.6% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 15,121,001 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $857,814,000 after acquiring an additional 4,947,830 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 51.0% during the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 11,321,958 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $642,294,000 after buying an additional 3,825,238 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 55.1% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 7,366,424 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $417,897,000 after buying an additional 2,616,227 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in W. R. Berkley by 211.3% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,674,171 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $208,436,000 after acquiring an additional 2,493,758 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in W. R. Berkley by 47.9% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,591,353 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $429,266,000 after acquiring an additional 2,459,073 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

About W. R. Berkley

(Get Free Report)

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.

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Analyst Recommendations for W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB)

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