Wells Fargo & Company Cuts W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) Price Target to $94.00

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) had its price target lowered by Wells Fargo & Company from $99.00 to $94.00 in a research report released on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an overweight rating on the insurance provider’s stock.

A number of other brokerages have also recently commented on WRB. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price 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. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $81.00 to $93.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $71.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a market perform rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $86.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of W. R. Berkley from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $90.63.

W. R. Berkley Stock Down 1.6 %

Shares of WRB stock opened at $76.65 on Wednesday. W. R. Berkley has a 12 month low of $55.50 and a 12 month high of $89.18. The stock has a market cap of $19.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.59, a P/E/G ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a current ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $84.26 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $76.41.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The insurance provider reported $1.56 EPS 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 21.01%. The business had revenue of $2.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.77 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.00 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that W. R. Berkley will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On W. R. Berkley

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of WRB. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley during the fourth quarter worth $213,635,000. Confluence Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley during the first quarter worth $82,706,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 89.2% during the fourth quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 1,904,555 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $134,690,000 after acquiring an additional 898,027 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 612.2% during the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 1,006,528 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $63,904,000 after acquiring an additional 865,205 shares during the last quarter. Finally, California Public Employees Retirement System boosted its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 213.9% during the third quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 1,147,961 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $72,884,000 after acquiring an additional 782,280 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

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.