W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) PT Lowered to $94.00 at Wells Fargo & Company

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) had its price objective reduced by Wells Fargo & Company from $99.00 to $94.00 in a report released on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the insurance provider’s stock.

Several other research firms have also issued reports on WRB. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $85.00 to $88.00 and gave the company a market perform rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $81.00 to $93.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. StockNews.com lowered shares of W. R. Berkley from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $83.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an in-line rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $71.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a market perform rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $90.63.

W. R. Berkley Stock Performance

Shares of WRB stock opened at $77.85 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $19.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.39, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a current ratio of 0.37. W. R. Berkley has a 52 week low of $55.50 and a 52 week high of $89.18. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $84.47 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $76.21.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The insurance provider reported $1.56 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.46 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $2.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.77 billion. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 11.38% and a return on equity of 19.03%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.00 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that W. R. Berkley will post 5.94 earnings per share for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 4th were paid a $0.11 dividend. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.57%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 1st. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.70%.

Institutional Trading of W. R. Berkley

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in W. R. Berkley by 4.2% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 13,065,224 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $829,511,000 after purchasing an additional 529,817 shares in the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 4.6% in the 3rd quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 6,819,124 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $432,946,000 after buying an additional 302,212 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,793,764 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $409,735,000 after buying an additional 154,468 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley in the 4th quarter worth $213,635,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,041,442 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $144,371,000 after buying an additional 39,594 shares during the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.