W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) Cut to Hold at StockNews.com

StockNews.com downgraded shares of W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note published on Thursday.

WRB has been the subject of several other reports. Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $65.00 price objective for the company. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Bank of America restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $74.00 price objective (up from $73.00) on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $63.00 price target on shares of W. R. Berkley in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, W. R. Berkley has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $65.13.

W. R. Berkley Stock Performance

Shares of WRB opened at $65.53 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The firm has a market cap of $24.85 billion, a PE ratio of 15.02, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.40. W. R. Berkley has a 12 month low of $50.73 and a 12 month high of $76.38. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $62.79 and a 200-day moving average price of $60.56.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The insurance provider reported $1.13 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 predict that W. R. Berkley will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd were issued a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.49%. W. R. Berkley’s payout ratio is 7.34%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On W. R. Berkley

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 36,436,473 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,132,262,000 after buying an additional 529,294 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 48.6% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 15,121,001 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $857,814,000 after purchasing an additional 4,947,830 shares during the period. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 11,722,476 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $685,999,000 after purchasing an additional 116,957 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,694,703 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $449,168,000 after purchasing an additional 103,350 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in W. R. Berkley by 55.1% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 7,366,424 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $417,897,000 after buying an additional 2,616,227 shares in the last quarter. 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.