W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) Announces Earnings Results

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday. The insurance provider reported $1.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.95 by $0.18, Zacks reports. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 11.96% and a return on equity of 20.41%.

W. R. Berkley Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of W. R. Berkley stock opened at $59.31 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $22.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 0.67. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $60.05 and its 200-day simple moving average is $58.48. W. R. Berkley has a 52-week low of $50.73 and a 52-week high of $65.49. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th were paid a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.54%. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.20%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley started coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $65.00 price target for the company. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday. Bank of America lifted their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, W. R. Berkley has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $64.36.

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.