W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) Receives New Coverage from Analysts at TD Cowen

TD Cowen started coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) in a research note issued to investors on Monday, Marketbeat reports. The brokerage issued a buy rating and a $103.00 price objective on the insurance provider’s stock.

Several other research firms also recently commented on WRB. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on W. R. Berkley from $93.00 to $87.00 and set a market perform rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on W. R. Berkley from $88.00 to $86.00 and set a market perform rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Evercore ISI upped 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 note on Thursday, April 11th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $99.00 to $94.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $88.00 to $86.00 and set a sector perform rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, W. R. Berkley currently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $90.44.

W. R. Berkley Trading Up 0.6 %

W. R. Berkley stock opened at $79.02 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $20.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.01, a P/E/G ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 0.61. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $79.09 and a 200-day moving average of $79.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.36 and a quick ratio of 0.36. W. R. Berkley has a one year low of $57.79 and a one year high of $89.18.

Shares of W. R. Berkley are going to split on the morning of Wednesday, July 10th. The 3-2 split was announced on Wednesday, June 12th. The newly minted shares will be payable to shareholders after the closing bell on Tuesday, July 9th.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The insurance provider reported $1.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.46 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $2.76 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.77 billion. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 20.51% and a net margin of 12.23%. The business’s revenue was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.00 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that W. R. Berkley will post 5.82 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Investors of record on Monday, June 24th were given a dividend of $0.12 per share. This is a positive change from W. R. Berkley’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.11. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 24th. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.61%. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.51%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. EULAV Asset Management raised its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 4.4% during the 3rd quarter. EULAV Asset Management now owns 945,260 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $60,015,000 after buying an additional 39,716 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new position in W. R. Berkley in the fourth quarter valued at about $8,970,000. NatWest Group plc acquired a new position in W. R. Berkley during the fourth quarter worth about $8,791,000. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley in the fourth quarter worth about $870,000. Finally, Financial Strategies Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 29.6% during the 4th quarter. Financial Strategies Group Inc. now owns 53,112 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $4,126,000 after purchasing an additional 12,140 shares during the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.