W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) Releases Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.07 EPS

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) posted its earnings results on Tuesday. The insurance provider reported $1.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.49 by $0.07, Briefing.com reports. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 19.03% and a net margin of 11.38%. The company had revenue of $2.76 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.77 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.00 earnings per share. W. R. Berkley’s revenue was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis.

W. R. Berkley Price Performance

WRB traded down $4.33 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $79.10. 4,029,547 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,237,847. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $84.59 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $76.09. W. R. Berkley has a 1 year low of $55.50 and a 1 year high of $89.18. The company has a market cap of $20.29 billion, a PE ratio of 15.50, a P/E/G ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a current ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 4th were given a dividend of $0.11 per share. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.56%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 1st. W. R. Berkley’s payout ratio is currently 8.70%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have weighed in on WRB shares. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on W. R. Berkley from $71.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on W. R. Berkley from $92.00 to $99.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Truist Financial increased their target price on W. R. Berkley from $83.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $83.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $81.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $89.88.

About W. R. Berkley

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.