W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) Receives $90.44 Consensus Price Target from Brokerages

W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) has been given a consensus rating of “Hold” by the nine analysts that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $90.44.

A number of brokerages recently commented on WRB. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $99.00 to $94.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut shares of W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $88.00 to $83.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 13th. Evercore ISI upped 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 research note on Thursday, April 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $88.00 to $86.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $93.00 to $87.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th.

W. R. Berkley Stock Up 1.2 %

W. R. Berkley stock opened at $79.62 on Thursday. W. R. Berkley has a twelve month low of $57.79 and a twelve month high of $89.18. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $79.23 and a 200-day moving average price of $80.15. The company has a market capitalization of $20.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.12, a P/E/G ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36.

Shares of W. R. Berkley are set to split before the market opens on Wednesday, July 10th. The 3-2 split was announced on Wednesday, June 12th. The newly created shares will be payable to shareholders after the market closes on Tuesday, July 9th.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The insurance provider reported $1.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.46 by $0.10. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.23% and a return on equity of 20.51%. The firm had revenue of $2.76 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.77 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.00 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that W. R. Berkley will post 5.84 EPS for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 24th were paid a $0.12 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 24th. This is a boost from W. R. Berkley’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.11. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.60%. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.51%.

Institutional Trading of W. R. Berkley

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley during the 4th quarter valued at $8,970,000. NatWest Group plc purchased a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley during the 4th quarter valued at $8,791,000. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley during the 4th quarter valued at $870,000. Financial Strategies Group Inc. raised its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 29.6% during the 4th quarter. Financial Strategies Group Inc. now owns 53,112 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $4,126,000 after buying an additional 12,140 shares in the last quarter. Finally, APG Asset Management US Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley during the 4th quarter valued at $2,878,000. Hedge funds and other 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.