Barclays Issues Pessimistic Forecast for W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) Stock Price

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) had its price objective lowered by Barclays from $56.00 to $50.00 in a research report released on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an underweight rating on the insurance provider's stock.

WRB has been the subject of a number of other reports. UBS Group upped their target price on W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $59.00 to $58.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $63.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $63.82.

W. R. Berkley Stock Down 1.3 %

W. R. Berkley stock traded down $0.75 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $57.18. The company had a trading volume of 1,958,162 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,652,963. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. W. R. Berkley has a 1 year low of $47.59 and a 1 year high of $65.49. The business has a fifty day moving average of $60.33 and a 200 day moving average of $58.20. The stock has a market cap of $21.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.65, a PEG ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 0.67.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.01. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 11.96% and a return on equity of 20.41%. The firm had revenue of $2.93 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.93 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.90 EPS. The company's revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that W. R. Berkley will post 3.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th were paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. W. R. Berkley's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.21%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of WRB. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 49.9% during the 2nd quarter. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. now owns 580 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 193 shares during the period. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. grew its position in W. R. Berkley by 51.0% during the third quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. now owns 619 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 209 shares during the period. Brighton Jones LLC increased its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 1.7% in the second quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 12,879 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $1,012,000 after buying an additional 212 shares in the last quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. boosted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 12.2% during the 2nd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 2,173 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $171,000 after acquiring an additional 236 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PFS Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 51.1% during the 3rd quarter. PFS Partners LLC now owns 719 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 243 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.