W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) Price Target Lowered to $76.00 at Cantor Fitzgerald

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) had its target price trimmed by Cantor Fitzgerald from $78.00 to $76.00 in a research note released on Wednesday, MarketBeat reports. The brokerage currently has an overweight rating on the insurance provider’s stock.

WRB has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Barclays reiterated an “underweight” rating and set a $64.00 target price (down previously from $73.00) on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research report on Thursday, January 8th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $68.00 price target on W.R. Berkley and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Truist Financial set a $84.00 price objective on W.R. Berkley and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on shares of W.R. Berkley from $76.00 to $75.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. Finally, Evercore ISI set a $69.00 target price on shares of W.R. Berkley and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 7th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $73.00.

W.R. Berkley Stock Up 1.8%

WRB stock opened at $69.21 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $26.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.54, a PEG ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a current ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. W.R. Berkley has a twelve month low of $56.86 and a twelve month high of $78.96. The company’s 50 day moving average is $72.12 and its two-hundred day moving average is $72.25.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last issued its earnings results on Monday, October 20th. The insurance provider reported $1.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.07 by $0.03. W.R. Berkley had a net margin of 13.01% and a return on equity of 18.86%. The business had revenue of $3.77 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.16 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.93 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that W.R. Berkley will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W.R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 29th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 15th were issued a $0.09 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 15th. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. W.R. Berkley’s payout ratio is presently 7.56%.

Insider Buying and Selling at W.R. Berkley

In other news, major shareholder Sumitomo Insurance Co L. Mitsui acquired 230,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 14th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $69.19 per share, for a total transaction of $15,913,700.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 52,726,504 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,648,146,811.76. This represents a 0.44% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders acquired 3,663,875 shares of company stock worth $255,318,672 over the last three months. 23.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of W.R. Berkley

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in WRB. Compass Financial Services Inc purchased a new stake in shares of W.R. Berkley in the third quarter valued at about $26,000. Hilltop National Bank acquired a new stake in W.R. Berkley in the second quarter valued at about $27,000. Twin Peaks Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in W.R. Berkley in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Elevation Point Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in W.R. Berkley in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Finally, Triumph Capital Management acquired a new position in W.R. Berkley during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $35,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

About W.R. Berkley

W. R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE: WRB) is a publicly traded insurance holding company that underwrites and sells commercial property and casualty insurance, specialty insurance products, and reinsurance. Headquartered in Greenwich, Connecticut, the company operates a portfolio of underwriting businesses that focus on niche and specialty commercial risks, offering coverage tailored to industries such as transportation, construction, professional services and other commercial lines.

The company’s product mix includes primary and excess casualty, property, professional liability, environmental and other specialty lines, together with treaty and facultative reinsurance solutions.