W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) Price Target Raised to $80.00

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) had its price objective boosted by Truist Financial from $68.00 to $80.00 in a research note released on Thursday,Benzinga reports. Truist Financial currently has a buy rating on the insurance provider’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts also recently commented on WRB. StockNews.com downgraded W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley initiated 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 for the company. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $63.00 target price on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Bank of America reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $74.00 target price (up from $73.00) on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $65.13.

W. R. Berkley Trading Down 6.8 %

NYSE:WRB opened at $65.53 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.02, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The company has a fifty day moving average of $62.79 and a 200 day moving average of $60.56. W. R. Berkley has a 52 week low of $50.73 and a 52 week high of $76.38.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 27th. The insurance provider reported $1.13 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.95 by $0.18. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.88% and a return on equity of 20.83%. On average, research analysts predict that W. R. Berkley will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.49%. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is 7.34%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On W. R. Berkley

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WRB. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 44.8% in the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 11,796 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $669,000 after acquiring an additional 3,647 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 68.6% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 116,767 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $6,624,000 after purchasing an additional 47,515 shares in the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors boosted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 50.1% during the third quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 39,089 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,218,000 after purchasing an additional 13,039 shares in the last quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp increased its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 30.2% during the third quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 51,186 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,904,000 after buying an additional 11,877 shares during the period. Finally, Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC lifted its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 46.2% during the third quarter. Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC now owns 161,193 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $9,144,000 after buying an additional 50,907 shares during the period. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.