W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) Given New $66.00 Price Target at Barclays

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) had its target price raised by Barclays from $62.00 to $66.00 in a research note published on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an underweight rating on the insurance provider’s stock.

WRB has been the subject of several other research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on shares of W.R. Berkley from $65.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, May 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered shares of W.R. Berkley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $74.00 to $76.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of W.R. Berkley from $69.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Truist Financial increased their price target on shares of W.R. Berkley from $68.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, TD Cowen cut shares of W.R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $78.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Friday, June 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $71.92.

W.R. Berkley Trading Down 1.1%

Shares of WRB stock opened at $69.61 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.36 and a quick ratio of 0.36. The firm has a market cap of $26.41 billion, a PE ratio of 16.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a 50-day moving average of $72.76 and a two-hundred day moving average of $66.29. W.R. Berkley has a 1-year low of $51.41 and a 1-year high of $76.38.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last announced its earnings results on Monday, April 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.08 by ($0.07). The company had revenue of $3.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.01 billion. W.R. Berkley had a return on equity of 19.66% and a net margin of 12.43%. On average, analysts predict that W.R. Berkley will post 4.33 EPS for the current year.

W.R. Berkley Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 23rd were given a dividend of $0.09 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 23rd. This is a positive change from W.R. Berkley’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.52%. W.R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.35%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On W.R. Berkley

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Baird Financial Group Inc. grew its position in shares of W.R. Berkley by 1.8% during the first quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 7,997 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $569,000 after acquiring an additional 141 shares during the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. grew its position in W.R. Berkley by 2.5% in the 1st quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 5,929 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $422,000 after buying an additional 142 shares during the last quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC grew its position in W.R. Berkley by 2.0% in the 1st quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,029 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $571,000 after buying an additional 155 shares during the last quarter. Pullen Investment Management LLC grew its position in W.R. Berkley by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Pullen Investment Management LLC now owns 22,954 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,343,000 after buying an additional 161 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Parallel Advisors LLC grew its position in W.R. Berkley by 4.7% in the 2nd quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 3,616 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $266,000 after buying an additional 161 shares during the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.