W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) Given Neutral Rating at Bank of America

Bank of America reissued their neutral rating on shares of W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) in a research note released on Tuesday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. They currently have a $74.00 target price on the insurance provider’s stock, up from their previous target price of $73.00.

A number of other brokerages have also recently issued reports on WRB. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $63.00 price target on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on 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. Morgan Stanley started coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a report on Thursday, December 5th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $65.00 target price on the stock. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of W. R. Berkley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $65.13.

W. R. Berkley Price Performance

Shares of W. R. Berkley stock opened at $70.30 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $62.63 and its 200-day simple moving average is $60.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.36. The firm has a market cap of $26.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.40. W. R. Berkley has a twelve month low of $50.73 and a twelve month high of $76.38.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 20.83% and a net margin of 12.88%. As a group, research analysts expect that W. R. Berkley will post 4.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were paid a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.46%. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is 7.34%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On W. R. Berkley

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Optiver Holding B.V. increased its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 107.3% during the 4th quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. now owns 427 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 221 shares during the last quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC acquired a new position in W. R. Berkley in the 4th quarter valued at about $35,000. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC acquired a new position in W. R. Berkley in the 4th quarter valued at about $37,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in W. R. Berkley during the fourth quarter worth approximately $42,000. Finally, Colonial Trust Co SC lifted its position in W. R. Berkley by 79.9% during the fourth quarter. Colonial Trust Co SC now owns 822 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $48,000 after acquiring an additional 365 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

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.