Zacks Research Expects Increased Earnings for W. R. Berkley

W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) – Equities researchers at Zacks Research boosted their FY2027 earnings per share estimates for shares of W. R. Berkley in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday, April 1st. Zacks Research analyst T. De now expects that the insurance provider will post earnings of $4.94 per share for the year, up from their previous estimate of $4.93. The consensus estimate for W. R. Berkley’s current full-year earnings is $4.33 per share.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The insurance provider reported $1.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.95 by $0.18. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 20.83% and a net margin of 12.88%.

A number of other research analysts have also recently issued reports on WRB. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. StockNews.com cut W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday. Truist Financial raised their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $68.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on W. R. Berkley in a report on Thursday, December 5th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $65.00 price target for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $65.13.

W. R. Berkley Stock Performance

Shares of WRB stock opened at $70.30 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $62.63 and its 200-day moving average price is $60.49. The stock has a market cap of $26.66 billion, a PE ratio of 16.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a current ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. W. R. Berkley has a 12 month low of $50.73 and a 12 month high of $76.38.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in WRB. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 641.7% in the first quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,654 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $118,000 after purchasing an additional 1,431 shares during the last quarter. 111 Capital purchased a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley in the 4th quarter worth $304,000. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 376.1% in the 4th quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 63,750 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $3,731,000 after buying an additional 50,361 shares during the last quarter. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH increased its position in W. R. Berkley by 8.0% during the fourth quarter. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH now owns 13,491 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $789,000 after acquiring an additional 995 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new position in W. R. Berkley in the fourth quarter valued at about $14,057,000. 68.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. W. R. Berkley’s payout ratio is presently 7.34%.

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.