W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) Sets New 52-Week High at $87.19

W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) shares hit a new 52-week high during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $87.19 and last traded at $86.91, with a volume of 99273 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $86.72.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have commented on WRB shares. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $81.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $71.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 27th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $84.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $73.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $84.11.

W. R. Berkley Stock Performance

The stock has a market cap of $22.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 0.57. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $82.83 and its two-hundred day moving average is $73.43. The company has a quick ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 24th. The insurance provider reported $1.45 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.35 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $3.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.70 billion. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 11.38% and a return on equity of 19.03%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.16 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 6 EPS for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 13th. Investors of record on Monday, March 4th were given a dividend of $0.11 per share. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 1st. W. R. Berkley’s payout ratio is presently 8.70%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On W. R. Berkley

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of WRB. Morgan Stanley raised its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 427.2% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 10,899,093 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $790,947,000 after purchasing an additional 8,831,553 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 55.3% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,331,473 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,620,232,000 after purchasing an additional 8,664,707 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 65.6% in the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 11,940,770 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $795,136,000 after purchasing an additional 4,732,333 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $213,635,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 119.7% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,377,556 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $224,911,000 after purchasing an additional 1,840,475 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

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.