W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) Price Target Lowered to $66.00 at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) had its price target cut by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $74.00 to $66.00 in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a market perform rating on the insurance provider’s stock.

Several other research firms have also commented on WRB. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on shares of W.R. Berkley from $75.00 to $70.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $75.00 target price (down from $76.00) on shares of W.R. Berkley in a report on Monday, February 2nd. Truist Financial set a $80.00 price target on shares of W.R. Berkley and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. Morgan Stanley set a $73.00 price objective on W.R. Berkley in a research report on Wednesday, January 28th. Finally, Barclays reiterated an “underweight” rating and issued a $64.00 target price (down from $73.00) on shares of W.R. Berkley in a report on Thursday, January 8th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $69.25.

W.R. Berkley Trading Down 1.5%

Shares of NYSE WRB opened at $65.31 on Wednesday. W.R. Berkley has a twelve month low of $62.63 and a twelve month high of $78.96. The company has a current ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $68.82 and a 200-day simple moving average of $71.53. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.46 billion, a PE ratio of 14.68, a PEG ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 0.35.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 26th. The insurance provider reported $1.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.14 by ($0.01). W.R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.10% and a return on equity of 18.17%. The firm had revenue of $3.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.18 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.13 EPS. W.R. Berkley’s quarterly revenue was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that W.R. Berkley will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current year.

W.R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 4th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 23rd were given a $0.09 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 23rd. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.6%. W.R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.09%.

Insider Buying and Selling at W.R. Berkley

In other news, major shareholder Sumitomo Insurance Co L. Mitsui acquired 112,176 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 3rd. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $72.20 per share, with a total value of $8,099,107.20. Following the transaction, the insider owned 58,780,450 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,243,948,490. This trade represents a 0.19% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In the last quarter, insiders have acquired 8,213,939 shares of company stock valued at $567,385,262. 23.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On W.R. Berkley

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of W.R. Berkley during the 4th quarter worth about $3,542,919,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of W.R. Berkley by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 37,033,581 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,596,795,000 after acquiring an additional 309,828 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of W.R. Berkley by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 14,921,114 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,143,256,000 after acquiring an additional 149,605 shares in the last quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in W.R. Berkley during the third quarter worth approximately $682,816,000. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in W.R. Berkley in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $435,752,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.