Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Trims W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) Target Price to $58.00

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) had its price objective cut by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $59.00 to $58.00 in a research report released on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a market perform rating on the insurance provider’s stock.

Other equities research analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Barclays started coverage on W. R. Berkley in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. They issued an “underweight” rating and a $56.00 target price on the stock. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Tuesday. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $66.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, W. R. Berkley has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $63.08.

W. R. Berkley Stock Performance

Shares of WRB opened at $58.53 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $22.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.57, a PEG ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 0.62. W. R. Berkley has a twelve month low of $41.82 and a twelve month high of $61.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a current ratio of 0.38. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $58.28 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $55.55.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last announced its earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.01. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.05% and a return on equity of 21.34%. The firm had revenue of $2.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.93 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.90 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that W. R. Berkley will post 4.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 23rd were given a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 23rd. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.55%. W. R. Berkley’s payout ratio is 8.51%.

Institutional Trading of W. R. Berkley

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in WRB. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 83.0% in the second quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,180,413 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $92,757,000 after buying an additional 535,471 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates lifted its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 58.2% in the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 1,333,418 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $75,645,000 after buying an additional 490,669 shares during the last quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. lifted its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 190.4% in the first quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 477,774 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $42,254,000 after buying an additional 313,234 shares during the last quarter. Berkley W R Corp acquired a new stake in W. R. Berkley during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $21,138,000. Finally, WINTON GROUP Ltd acquired a new stake in W. R. Berkley during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $18,482,000. 68.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.