W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) Price Target Lowered to $86.00 at Royal Bank of Canada

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) had its price objective trimmed by Royal Bank of Canada from $88.00 to $86.00 in a research report report published on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a sector perform rating on the insurance provider’s stock.

A number of other analysts have also recently weighed in on WRB. Evercore ISI increased their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $83.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an in-line rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Truist Financial decreased their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $95.00 to $93.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $99.00 to $94.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. StockNews.com cut shares of W. R. Berkley from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $85.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock a market perform rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $90.63.

W. R. Berkley Trading Down 1.6 %

Shares of W. R. Berkley stock opened at $76.65 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $19.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.59, a PEG ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $84.26 and a 200-day simple moving average of $76.41. The company has a current ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. W. R. Berkley has a 12-month low of $55.50 and a 12-month high of $89.18.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The insurance provider reported $1.56 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.46 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $2.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.77 billion. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.23% and a return on equity of 21.01%. W. R. Berkley’s quarterly revenue was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.00 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that W. R. Berkley will post 5.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 4th were issued a $0.11 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 1st. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.57%. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is presently 7.80%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On W. R. Berkley

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in WRB. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley in the 4th quarter valued at about $213,635,000. Confluence Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley in the 1st quarter valued at about $82,706,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 89.2% in the 4th quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 1,904,555 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $134,690,000 after purchasing an additional 898,027 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 612.2% in the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 1,006,528 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $63,904,000 after purchasing an additional 865,205 shares in the last quarter. Finally, California Public Employees Retirement System increased its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 213.9% in the 3rd quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 1,147,961 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $72,884,000 after purchasing an additional 782,280 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.