W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) Price Target Lowered to $62.00 at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) had its price target trimmed by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $64.00 to $62.00 in a report released on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a market perform rating on the insurance provider's stock.

Several other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company cut W. R. Berkley from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $70.00 to $69.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of W. R. Berkley from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $68.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. 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 report on Tuesday, April 1st. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on W. R. Berkley from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $66.59.

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W. R. Berkley Stock Up 1.3 %

WRB traded up $0.92 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $69.37. The company had a trading volume of 619,370 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,801,995. The company has a market cap of $26.31 billion, a PE ratio of 15.90, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 0.36 and a quick ratio of 0.36. W. R. Berkley has a 1-year low of $50.73 and a 1-year high of $76.38. The business has a 50-day moving average of $63.78 and a 200-day moving average of $61.01.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The insurance provider reported $1.13 EPS for the quarter, topping 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%. As a group, analysts forecast that W. R. Berkley will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.46%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. W. R. Berkley's payout ratio is currently 7.34%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On W. R. Berkley

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 36,436,473 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $2,132,262,000 after acquiring an additional 529,294 shares in the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in W. R. Berkley by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 11,722,476 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $685,999,000 after purchasing an additional 116,957 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,694,703 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $449,168,000 after purchasing an additional 103,350 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 55.1% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 7,366,424 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $417,897,000 after buying an additional 2,616,227 shares in the last quarter. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 15.2% in the fourth quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 4,787,361 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $280,156,000 after buying an additional 632,578 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.