W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) Downgraded by StockNews.com

StockNews.com downgraded shares of W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report released on Wednesday morning.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently commented on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group cut shares of W. R. Berkley from a buy rating to a neutral rating and reduced their target price for the company from $58.67 to $55.33 in a research report on Thursday, June 13th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a sector perform rating and set a $57.00 target price on shares of W. R. Berkley in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on W. R. Berkley from $62.00 to $59.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $62.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, TD Cowen began coverage on W. R. Berkley in a report on Monday, July 1st. They set a buy rating and a $68.67 price target on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, W. R. Berkley currently has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $59.67.

W. R. Berkley Stock Down 0.5 %

WRB stock opened at $58.71 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.66, a P/E/G ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 0.62. W. R. Berkley has a 52 week low of $40.86 and a 52 week high of $61.28. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $56.63 and a 200-day simple moving average of $55.30. The company has a quick ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 0.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last released its earnings results on Monday, July 22nd. The insurance provider reported $1.04 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $3.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.84 billion. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 21.34% and a net margin of 12.05%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.14 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that W. R. Berkley will post 4.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 24th were given a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 24th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.55%. This is a boost from W. R. Berkley’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.07. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.51%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On W. R. Berkley

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Sanctuary Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in W. R. Berkley in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $4,801,000. Delphi Management Inc. MA grew its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 1.6% in the second quarter. Delphi Management Inc. MA now owns 21,217 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,667,000 after acquiring an additional 340 shares in the last quarter. Granite Bay Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in W. R. Berkley in the 2nd quarter valued at about $564,000. Truist Financial Corp raised its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 3.4% in the second quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 811,844 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $63,795,000 after acquiring an additional 26,738 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brandes Investment Partners LP raised its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 18.6% in the 2nd quarter. Brandes Investment Partners LP now owns 699,387 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $54,997,000 after purchasing an additional 109,864 shares in the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.