W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) Upgraded to Buy 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 Tuesday morning.

Several other equities research analysts have also commented on WRB. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on W. R. Berkley from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Barclays started coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. They set an “underweight” rating and a $56.00 price objective for the company. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, W. R. Berkley presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $63.08.

W. R. Berkley Stock Up 1.8 %

Shares of NYSE WRB opened at $60.74 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $58.42 and its 200 day moving average price is $56.08. 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 $23.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 0.62. W. R. Berkley has a 1 year low of $45.75 and a 1 year high of $61.96.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $2.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.93 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.90 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that W. R. Berkley will post 3.96 earnings per share for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 23rd were paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 23rd. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.20%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On W. R. Berkley

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Quarry LP bought a new position in W. R. Berkley during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $42,000. Covestor Ltd increased its stake in W. R. Berkley by 173.0% during the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 546 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $48,000 after purchasing an additional 346 shares during the last quarter. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 49.9% during the second quarter. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. now owns 580 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 193 shares during the period. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 51.0% in the 3rd quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. now owns 619 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 209 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PFS Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 51.1% in the 3rd quarter. PFS Partners LLC now owns 719 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after buying an additional 243 shares during the period. Institutional investors 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.