Barclays Cuts W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) Price Target to $50.00

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) had its target price lowered by Barclays from $56.00 to $50.00 in a research report sent to investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an underweight rating on the insurance provider’s stock.

WRB has been the subject of a number of other reports. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Bank of America boosted their target price on W. R. Berkley from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded W. R. Berkley from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $69.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $59.00 to $58.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, W. R. Berkley presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $63.82.

W. R. Berkley Trading Up 1.0 %

NYSE:WRB opened at $58.10 on Monday. W. R. Berkley has a 1 year low of $47.59 and a 1 year high of $65.49. The stock has a market cap of $22.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.88, a P/E/G ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.36. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $60.30 and a 200-day simple moving average of $58.25.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.01. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 20.41% and a net margin of 11.96%. The firm had revenue of $2.93 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.93 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.90 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that W. R. Berkley will post 3.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th were issued a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. W. R. Berkley’s payout ratio is 8.21%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. MML Investors Services LLC raised its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 49.0% during the 3rd quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 39,035 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,214,000 after buying an additional 12,830 shares in the last quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP purchased a new position in W. R. Berkley in the third quarter worth $732,000. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 53.6% in the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 737,472 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $41,837,000 after acquiring an additional 257,211 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 104.1% during the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 4,154,783 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $235,701,000 after purchasing an additional 2,118,641 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sanctuary Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley during the 2nd quarter worth $4,801,000. 68.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.