W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) have received a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the thirteen research firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have issued a hold recommendation and six have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $64.36.

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com lowered shares of W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of W. R. Berkley from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $69.00 target price for the company in a report on Monday, November 25th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $63.00 target price on shares of W. R. Berkley in a report on Tuesday, January 28th.

W. R. Berkley Stock Performance

NYSE:WRB opened at $64.17 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $60.52 and a 200-day simple moving average of $59.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 0.36 and a quick ratio of 0.36. The firm has a market cap of $24.33 billion, a PE ratio of 14.71, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.63. W. R. Berkley has a 1-year low of $50.73 and a 1-year high of $65.49.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 27th. The insurance provider reported $1.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.95 by $0.18. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.88% and a return on equity of 20.83%. On average, equities analysts expect that W. R. Berkley will post 4.33 EPS for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.50%. W. R. Berkley’s payout ratio is currently 7.34%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Amundi lifted its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 43.1% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 1,477,932 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $85,853,000 after purchasing an additional 444,986 shares in the last quarter. MML Investors Services LLC raised its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 49.0% in the third quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 39,035 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,214,000 after acquiring an additional 12,830 shares in the last quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP acquired a new stake in W. R. Berkley in the third quarter valued at $732,000. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 53.6% in the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 737,472 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $41,837,000 after acquiring an additional 257,211 shares in the last quarter. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 104.1% in the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 4,154,783 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $235,701,000 after acquiring an additional 2,118,641 shares in the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.