W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) Announces Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.10 EPS

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) released its earnings results on Tuesday. The insurance provider reported $1.56 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.46 by $0.10, Briefing.com reports. The firm had revenue of $2.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.77 billion. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.23% and a return on equity of 21.01%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.00 EPS.

W. R. Berkley Stock Performance

WRB stock opened at $77.85 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 0.37 and a quick ratio of 0.37. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $84.47 and a 200 day moving average price of $76.21. W. R. Berkley has a fifty-two week low of $55.50 and a fifty-two week high of $89.18. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.97 billion, a PE ratio of 13.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 0.57.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 13th. Investors of record on Monday, March 4th were given a $0.11 dividend. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 1st. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.80%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently commented on WRB. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $86.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. StockNews.com lowered shares of W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $83.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $85.00 to $88.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $88.00 to $86.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $90.63.

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.