Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Lowers W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) Price Target to $86.00

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) had its target price decreased by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $88.00 to $86.00 in a research report sent to investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods currently has a market perform rating on the insurance provider’s stock.

Several other research analysts also recently commented on WRB. UBS Group boosted their target price on W. R. Berkley from $81.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on W. R. Berkley from $93.00 to $87.00 and set a market perform rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of W. R. Berkley from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $99.00 to $94.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price target on W. R. Berkley from $83.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an in-line rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $90.38.

W. R. Berkley Price Performance

Shares of WRB traded down $0.45 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $78.56. The company had a trading volume of 1,259,903 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,555,009. The company has a market capitalization of $20.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.93, a P/E/G ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 0.60. The company’s 50-day moving average is $83.67 and its 200-day moving average is $76.80. W. R. Berkley has a twelve month low of $55.50 and a twelve month high of $89.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 0.37 and a quick ratio of 0.37.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The insurance provider reported $1.56 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.46 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $2.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.77 billion. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.23% and a return on equity of 21.01%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.00 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that W. R. Berkley will post 5.87 EPS for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 13th. Investors of record on Monday, March 4th were given a $0.11 dividend. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.56%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 1st. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 7.80%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. WBI Investments LLC lifted its stake in W. R. Berkley by 103.1% in the 1st quarter. WBI Investments LLC now owns 83,649 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $7,398,000 after purchasing an additional 42,460 shares during the last quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S boosted its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 606.2% during the 1st quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 72,569 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $6,418,000 after buying an additional 62,293 shares during the period. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division bought a new position in W. R. Berkley in the 1st quarter valued at about $1,902,000. Chase Investment Counsel Corp acquired a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley in the first quarter valued at approximately $1,584,000. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its position in W. R. Berkley by 3.3% during the first quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 36,109 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $3,194,000 after acquiring an additional 1,146 shares during the period. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.