W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) Upgraded at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note released on Wednesday morning.

WRB has been the subject of a number of other reports. Morgan Stanley started coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $65.00 price objective for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group raised W. R. Berkley from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $69.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 25th. UBS Group lifted their target price on W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, W. R. Berkley presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $63.82.

W. R. Berkley Price Performance

W. R. Berkley stock opened at $56.78 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $60.30 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $58.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.55, a PEG ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.36. W. R. Berkley has a 52-week low of $47.96 and a 52-week high of $65.49.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 firm had revenue of $2.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.93 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.90 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that W. R. Berkley will post 3.96 earnings per share for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th were issued a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.56%. W. R. Berkley’s payout ratio is currently 8.21%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On W. R. Berkley

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. State Street Corp lifted its position in W. R. Berkley by 48.6% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 15,121,001 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $857,814,000 after buying an additional 4,947,830 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its stake 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 valued at $642,294,000 after purchasing an additional 3,825,238 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 55.1% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 7,366,424 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $417,897,000 after purchasing an additional 2,616,227 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in W. R. Berkley by 211.3% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,674,171 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $208,436,000 after purchasing an additional 2,493,758 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in W. R. Berkley by 47.9% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,591,353 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $429,266,000 after buying an additional 2,459,073 shares during the period. 68.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.