Weekly Research Analysts’ Ratings Updates for W. R. Berkley (WRB)

W. R. Berkley (NYSE: WRB) recently received a number of ratings updates from brokerages and research firms:

• 1/14/2025 – W. R. Berkley had its price target lowered by analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from $68.00 to $67.00. They now have an “overweight” rating on the stock.
• 1/8/2025 – W. R. Berkley was upgraded by analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating.
• 1/6/2025 – W. R. Berkley had its price target lowered by analysts at Barclays PLC from $56.00 to $50.00. They now have an “underweight” rating on the stock.
• 12/25/2024 – W. R. Berkley was downgraded by analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating.
• 12/11/2024 – W. R. Berkley was upgraded by analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating.
• 12/5/2024 – W. R. Berkley is now covered by analysts at Morgan Stanley. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $65.00 price target on the stock.
• 11/29/2024 – W. R. Berkley was upgraded by analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating.
• 11/25/2024 – W. R. Berkley was upgraded by analysts at The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating. They now have a $69.00 price target on the stock.
• 11/21/2024 – W. R. Berkley was downgraded by analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating.

W. R. Berkley Price Performance

NYSE:WRB opened at $58.54 on Wednesday. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 52 week low of $48.48 and a 52 week high of $65.49. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $60.30 and its two-hundred day moving average is $58.41. The company has a market capitalization of $22.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.00, a P/E/G ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $2.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.93 billion. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 11.96% and a return on equity of 20.41%. W. R. Berkley’s revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.90 EPS. Equities analysts expect that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 3.96 EPS for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.55%. W. R. Berkley’s payout ratio is currently 8.21%.

Institutional Trading of W. R. Berkley

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Wedmont Private Capital boosted its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 8,038 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $456,000 after buying an additional 181 shares during the period. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. lifted its stake in W. R. Berkley by 49.9% during the 2nd quarter. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. now owns 580 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $46,000 after acquiring an additional 193 shares in the last quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. lifted its stake in W. R. Berkley by 51.0% during the 3rd quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. now owns 619 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 209 shares in the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 1.7% during the 2nd quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 12,879 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,012,000 after acquiring an additional 212 shares during the period. Finally, Benjamin Edwards Inc. grew its position in W. R. Berkley by 12.2% in the 2nd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 2,173 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $171,000 after acquiring an additional 236 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

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.