W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) Rating Reiterated by Royal Bank of Canada

Royal Bank of Canada restated their sector perform rating on shares of W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) in a research note released on Monday morning, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $86.00 price objective on the insurance provider’s stock.

WRB has been the topic of a number of other reports. TD Cowen initiated coverage on W. R. Berkley in a research report on Monday. They set a buy rating and a $103.00 price target on the stock. Truist Financial cut their target price on W. R. Berkley from $95.00 to $93.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. StockNews.com downgraded W. R. Berkley from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report on Friday, June 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded W. R. Berkley from a buy rating to a neutral rating and cut their target price for the company from $88.00 to $83.00 in a research report on Thursday, June 13th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on W. R. Berkley from $99.00 to $94.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $90.44.

W. R. Berkley Stock Performance

Shares of WRB stock opened at $79.17 on Monday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $79.14 and its 200-day simple moving average is $79.88. The company has a market cap of $20.24 billion, a PE ratio of 14.04, a PEG ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a current ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. W. R. Berkley has a 12-month low of $57.79 and a 12-month high of $89.18.

W. R. Berkley shares are set to split on Wednesday, July 10th. The 3-2 split was announced on Wednesday, June 12th. The newly minted shares will be distributed to shareholders after the closing bell on Tuesday, July 9th.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The insurance provider reported $1.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.46 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $2.76 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.77 billion. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 20.51% and a net margin of 12.23%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.00 earnings per share. Analysts expect that W. R. Berkley will post 5.82 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 24th were paid a dividend of $0.12 per share. This is a positive change from W. R. Berkley’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.11. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 24th. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.51%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On W. R. Berkley

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,439,361 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,161,417,000 after acquiring an additional 195,763 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in W. R. Berkley by 4.2% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 13,065,224 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $829,511,000 after buying an additional 529,817 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in W. R. Berkley by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,793,764 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $409,735,000 after buying an additional 154,468 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in W. R. Berkley in the 4th quarter valued at about $213,635,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in W. R. Berkley by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,041,442 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $144,371,000 after buying an additional 39,594 shares in the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.