W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) Price Target Raised to $61.00 at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) had its price target raised by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $60.00 to $61.00 in a research report sent to investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods currently has a market perform rating on the insurance provider’s stock.

Other analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Evercore ISI upped their target price on W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Truist Financial raised their price target on W. R. Berkley from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Bank of America upped their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $64.36.

W. R. Berkley Stock Performance

WRB opened at $59.29 on Tuesday. W. R. Berkley has a 1-year low of $50.73 and a 1-year high of $65.49. The stock has a market cap of $22.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.19, a P/E/G ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 0.67. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $60.01 and its 200 day simple moving average is $58.48. 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 posted its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The insurance provider reported $1.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.95 by $0.18. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 20.41% and a net margin of 11.96%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that W. R. Berkley will post 3.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.20%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On W. R. Berkley

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. raised its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 51.0% in the 3rd quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. now owns 619 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 209 shares during the period. PFS Partners LLC increased its stake in W. R. Berkley by 51.1% during the third quarter. PFS Partners LLC now owns 719 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 243 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP purchased a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley in the 2nd quarter worth about $42,000. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV lifted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 108.1% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 801 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 416 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Coastline Trust Co purchased a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley during the 3rd quarter worth about $47,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.