W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) Stock Rating Upgraded by The Goldman Sachs Group

The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a research report report published on Monday, Marketbeat.com reports. They currently have $69.00 price objective on the insurance provider’s stock.

WRB has been the subject of a number of other reports. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on W. R. Berkley from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $63.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Truist Financial upped their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $64.22.

W. R. Berkley Stock Performance

WRB stock opened at $64.94 on Monday. 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 has a 1 year low of $45.75 and a 1 year high of $65.49. The company has a market cap of $24.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 0.62. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $59.12 and its 200-day moving average price is $56.73.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last announced its earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.01. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 20.41% and a net margin of 11.96%. The business had revenue of $2.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.93 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.90 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that W. R. Berkley will post 3.94 earnings per share for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 23rd were issued 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 yield of 0.49%. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.20%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On W. R. Berkley

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp raised its stake in W. R. Berkley by 48.6% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 15,121,001 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $857,814,000 after purchasing an additional 4,947,830 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 51.0% in the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 11,321,958 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $642,294,000 after buying an additional 3,825,238 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 211.3% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,674,171 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $208,436,000 after buying an additional 2,493,758 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 47.9% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,591,353 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $429,266,000 after acquiring an additional 2,459,073 shares during the last quarter. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its position in W. R. Berkley by 104.1% in the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 4,154,783 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $235,701,000 after acquiring an additional 2,118,641 shares in 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.