Analysts Expect W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) Will Announce Earnings of $0.87 Per Share

Equities analysts expect that W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB – Get Rating) will announce earnings of $0.87 per share for the current quarter, Zacks Investment Research reports. Four analysts have issued estimates for W. R. Berkley’s earnings. The lowest EPS estimate is $0.79 and the highest is $0.96. W. R. Berkley reported earnings per share of $0.78 in the same quarter last year, which indicates a positive year-over-year growth rate of 11.5%. The business is scheduled to announce its next earnings report on Monday, January 1st.

According to Zacks, analysts expect that W. R. Berkley will report full year earnings of $3.85 per share for the current year, with EPS estimates ranging from $3.64 to $4.00. For the next fiscal year, analysts anticipate that the business will post earnings of $4.26 per share, with EPS estimates ranging from $3.75 to $4.70. Zacks Investment Research’s EPS calculations are a mean average based on a survey of sell-side research firms that cover W. R. Berkley.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 25th. The insurance provider reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.18. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 15.77% and a net margin of 13.55%. The business had revenue of $2.25 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.26 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.72 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.6% on a year-over-year basis.

Several research firms have recently commented on WRB. StockNews.com upgraded shares of W. R. Berkley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 28th. Truist Financial raised their price target on W. R. Berkley from $73.33 to $83.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 26th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $65.00 to $76.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 12th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $63.00 to $75.00 in a research report on Friday, April 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $44.67 to $67.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 25th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $67.55.

NYSE:WRB opened at $66.48 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. The company has a market capitalization of $17.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 0.75. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $67.66 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $60.24. W. R. Berkley has a twelve month low of $47.13 and a twelve month high of $71.53.

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 23rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 9th were paid a dividend of $0.0867 per share. This represents a $0.35 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 8th. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 7.06%.

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 2.0% in the third quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 49,537 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $3,625,000 after acquiring an additional 952 shares during the last quarter. Eaton Vance Management lifted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 34.3% in the 3rd quarter. Eaton Vance Management now owns 97,125 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $6,912,000 after purchasing an additional 24,816 shares in the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 21.9% in the 3rd quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 5,358,324 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $392,123,000 after purchasing an additional 962,043 shares in the last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board grew its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 23,660 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,731,000 after purchasing an additional 475 shares during the period. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors increased its position in W. R. Berkley by 37.8% during the 3rd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 15,629 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,144,000 after purchasing an additional 4,290 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 49.90% of the company’s stock.

About W. R. Berkley (Get Rating)

W. R. Berkley Corporation, an insurance holding company, operates as a commercial lines writer in the United States and internationally. It operates in two segments, Insurance and Reinsurance & Monoline Excess. The Insurance segment underwrites commercial insurance business, including premises operations, commercial automobile, property, products liability, and general and professional liability lines.

Recommended Stories