Royal Bank of Canada Boosts W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) Price Target to $63.00

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) had its price objective upped by Royal Bank of Canada from $57.00 to $63.00 in a report released on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a sector perform rating on the insurance provider’s stock.

Several other research firms also recently issued reports on WRB. Bank of America increased their target price on W. R. Berkley from $65.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. StockNews.com downgraded W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. UBS Group increased their target price on W. R. Berkley from $66.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Truist Financial increased their target price on W. R. Berkley from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their target price on W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Tuesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $63.08.

W. R. Berkley Price Performance

W. R. Berkley stock opened at $58.53 on Tuesday. W. R. Berkley has a 12 month low of $41.82 and a 12 month high of $61.96. The company has a current ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $58.28 and its 200 day simple moving average is $55.55. The company has a market cap of $22.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.57, a PEG ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 0.62.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.01. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 21.34% and a net margin of 12.05%. The business had revenue of $2.93 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.93 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.90 earnings per share. W. R. Berkley’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that W. R. Berkley will post 4.02 EPS for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On W. R. Berkley

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Sound Income Strategies LLC raised its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 563.2% during the 1st quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 451 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 383 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP purchased a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley during the 2nd quarter valued at about $42,000. Covestor Ltd raised its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 173.0% during the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 546 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $48,000 after buying an additional 346 shares in the last quarter. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 49.9% during the 2nd quarter. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. now owns 580 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 193 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 51.0% during the 3rd quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. now owns 619 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 209 shares in the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is 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.