W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) Stock Rating Lowered by StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report issued on Tuesday morning.

Other equities analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $63.00 price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, W. R. Berkley presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $64.36.

W. R. Berkley Stock Performance

Shares of WRB stock opened at $63.57 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $24.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.57, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 0.36 and a quick ratio of 0.36. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $60.86 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $59.90. W. R. Berkley has a one year low of $50.73 and a one year high of $65.49.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The insurance provider reported $1.13 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.95 by $0.18. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.88% and a return on equity of 20.83%. As a group, equities analysts predict that W. R. Berkley will post 4.33 EPS for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were paid a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 7.34%.

Institutional Trading of W. R. Berkley

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of WRB. Optiver Holding B.V. raised its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 107.3% in the 4th quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. now owns 427 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 221 shares in the last quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC acquired a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group acquired a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $48,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

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.