Bank of America Boosts W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) Price Target to $76.00

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) had its price objective upped by Bank of America from $73.00 to $76.00 in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday morning, Benzinga reports. Bank of America currently has a buy rating on the insurance provider’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also weighed in on WRB. Truist Financial raised their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. TD Cowen initiated coverage on W. R. Berkley in a research note on Monday, July 1st. They set a “buy” rating and a $68.67 price objective for the company. UBS Group raised their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, W. R. Berkley has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $63.08.

W. R. Berkley Price Performance

WRB stock opened at $59.32 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a current ratio of 0.38. W. R. Berkley has a 1 year low of $43.20 and a 1 year high of $61.96. The firm has a market cap of $22.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 0.62. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $58.35 and a 200-day simple moving average of $55.60.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last posted its earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.01. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 21.34% and a net margin of 12.05%. The business had revenue of $2.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.93 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $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 4.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Monday, September 23rd were issued a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.54%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 23rd. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.51%.

Institutional Trading of W. R. Berkley

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. raised its stake in W. R. Berkley by 51.0% during the 3rd quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. now owns 619 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 209 shares in the last quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC raised its stake in W. R. Berkley by 563.2% during the 1st quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 451 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 383 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP bought a new stake in W. R. Berkley during the 2nd quarter valued at $42,000. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. raised its stake in W. R. Berkley by 49.9% during the 2nd quarter. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. now owns 580 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 193 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Covestor Ltd raised its stake in W. R. Berkley by 173.0% during the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 546 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $48,000 after acquiring an additional 346 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.