W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) Lowered to Hold Rating by StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note published on Tuesday morning.

Several other analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $63.00 price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised W. R. Berkley from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $69.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Barclays boosted their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Morgan Stanley began coverage on W. R. Berkley in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $65.00 price objective on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $64.36.

W. R. Berkley Trading Down 1.2 %

NYSE:WRB opened at $63.31 on Tuesday. W. R. Berkley has a 12-month low of $50.73 and a 12-month high of $65.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.51, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 0.36 and a quick ratio of 0.36. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $60.64 and a 200 day simple moving average of $59.84.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 27th. The insurance provider reported $1.13 earnings per share (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%. Equities research analysts predict that W. R. Berkley will post 4.33 EPS for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd were issued a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. W. R. Berkley’s payout ratio is 7.34%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of WRB. Apollon Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 50.8% during the third quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,085 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $232,000 after buying an additional 1,377 shares in the last quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. purchased a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley during the third quarter valued at $235,000. Huntington National Bank grew its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 623.7% during the third quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 1,556 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $88,000 after buying an additional 1,341 shares in the last quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 43.6% during the third quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 17,464 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $991,000 after buying an additional 5,304 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CIBC Asset Management Inc grew its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 59.8% during the third quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 47,762 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,710,000 after buying an additional 17,878 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.