W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) Receives $64.36 Consensus Target Price from Brokerages

W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) has earned an average rating of “Hold” from the thirteen research firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have assigned a hold recommendation and six have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $64.36.

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Bank of America lifted their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $63.00 price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised W. R. Berkley from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $69.00 price objective for the company in a report on Monday, November 25th. Barclays lifted their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th.

W. R. Berkley Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of W. R. Berkley stock opened at $60.55 on Friday. W. R. Berkley has a 1 year low of $50.73 and a 1 year high of $65.49. The firm has a market cap of $23.07 billion, a PE ratio of 13.88, a P/E/G ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 0.67. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $59.23 and a 200-day moving average price of $59.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 0.36 and a quick ratio of 0.36.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last announced its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The insurance provider reported $1.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.95 by $0.18. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 20.83% and a net margin of 12.88%. Equities research analysts anticipate that W. R. Berkley will post 4.35 EPS for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th were paid a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.53%. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 7.33%.

Institutional Trading of W. R. Berkley

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Optiver Holding B.V. boosted its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 107.3% during the 4th quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. now owns 427 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 221 shares during the last quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley during the 4th quarter valued at about $35,000. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC bought a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley during the 4th quarter valued at about $37,000. PFS Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 51.1% during the 3rd quarter. PFS Partners LLC now owns 719 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 243 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley during the 4th quarter valued at about $42,000. 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.