StockNews.com Downgrades W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) to Hold

StockNews.com downgraded shares of W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report published on Friday.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a "sector perform" rating and issued a $63.00 target price on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Bank of America restated a "neutral" rating and set a $74.00 price target (up from $73.00) on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on W. R. Berkley from $64.00 to $62.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut shares of W. R. Berkley from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $70.00 to $69.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $66.59.

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W. R. Berkley Stock Performance

Shares of W. R. Berkley stock traded down $0.67 on Friday, hitting $68.67. The stock had a trading volume of 520,146 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,801,174. The company has a current ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The stock has a market cap of $26.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.74, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.40. The company's 50 day moving average price is $63.95 and its 200 day moving average price is $61.10. W. R. Berkley has a 52-week low of $50.73 and a 52-week high of $76.38.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The insurance provider reported $1.13 earnings per share 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%. On average, research analysts anticipate 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. Shareholders 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 yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. W. R. Berkley's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 7.34%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WRB. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position 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 worth $2,132,262,000 after purchasing an additional 529,294 shares in the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings 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 worth $685,999,000 after purchasing an additional 116,957 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in W. R. Berkley by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,694,703 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $449,168,000 after acquiring an additional 103,350 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 55.1% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 7,366,424 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $417,897,000 after purchasing an additional 2,616,227 shares in the last quarter. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its stake in W. R. Berkley by 15.2% during the 4th quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 4,787,361 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $280,156,000 after acquiring an additional 632,578 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.