TD Cowen Begins Coverage on W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB)

TD Cowen began coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) in a report issued on Monday morning, Marketbeat reports. The brokerage issued a buy rating and a $103.00 target price on the insurance provider’s stock.

Other analysts have also issued reports about the company. Truist Financial decreased their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $95.00 to $93.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $83.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an in-line rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. StockNews.com lowered W. R. Berkley from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note on Friday, June 14th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $99.00 to $94.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered W. R. Berkley from a buy rating to a neutral rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $88.00 to $83.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 13th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $90.44.

W. R. Berkley Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE WRB opened at $79.17 on Monday. W. R. Berkley has a one year low of $57.79 and a one year high of $89.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.36 and a quick ratio of 0.36. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $79.14 and its 200-day moving average price is $79.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.24 billion, a PE ratio of 14.04, a P/E/G ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 0.61.

W. R. Berkley shares are set to split on Wednesday, July 10th. The 3-2 split was announced on Wednesday, June 12th. The newly issued shares will be issued to shareholders after the market closes on Tuesday, July 9th.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The insurance provider reported $1.56 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.46 by $0.10. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 20.51% and a net margin of 12.23%. The firm had revenue of $2.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.77 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.00 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that W. R. Berkley will post 5.82 EPS for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 24th were paid a $0.12 dividend. This is a positive change from W. R. Berkley’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.11. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 24th. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.51%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On W. R. Berkley

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of WRB. LPL Financial LLC boosted its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 57.2% in the 3rd quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 108,718 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $6,903,000 after purchasing an additional 39,561 shares in the last quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 124.8% in the 3rd quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC now owns 9,079 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $576,000 after purchasing an additional 5,040 shares in the last quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec boosted its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 5,937.6% in the 3rd quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 66,534 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $4,224,000 after purchasing an additional 65,432 shares in the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 166.2% in the 3rd quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 17,815 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,130,000 after purchasing an additional 11,123 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Glenmede Trust Co. NA boosted its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 18.5% in the 3rd quarter. Glenmede Trust Co. NA now owns 6,293 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $400,000 after purchasing an additional 982 shares in the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.