W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) Price Target Cut to $86.00

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) had its target price lowered by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $88.00 to $86.00 in a research note published on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a market perform rating on the insurance provider’s stock.

WRB has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $99.00 to $94.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $86.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $81.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. StockNews.com raised shares of W. R. Berkley from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, Truist Financial reduced their target price on W. R. Berkley from $95.00 to $93.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $90.38.

W. R. Berkley Price Performance

WRB opened at $78.71 on Friday. 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’s 50 day simple moving average is $83.55 and its 200-day simple moving average is $77.06. W. R. Berkley has a one year low of $55.50 and a one year high of $89.18. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 0.60.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The insurance provider reported $1.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.46 by $0.10. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 21.01% and a net margin of 12.23%. The business had revenue of $2.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.77 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.00 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that W. R. Berkley will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.56%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 1st. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is presently 7.80%.

Institutional Trading of W. R. Berkley

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley during the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Glassman Wealth Services lifted its stake in W. R. Berkley by 123.1% in the 4th quarter. Glassman Wealth Services now owns 357 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 197 shares during the last quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust raised its stake in W. R. Berkley by 106.1% in the third quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 406 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 209 shares during the period. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 132.6% during the 3rd quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 414 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 236 shares during the period. Finally, VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC bought a new stake in W. R. Berkley in the 3rd quarter valued at $27,000. 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.