W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) Shares Gap Down – Here’s What Happened

W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB)’s stock price gapped down prior to trading on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $70.87, but opened at $68.04. W.R. Berkley shares last traded at $65.5630, with a volume of 983,645 shares traded.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WRB has been the topic of a number of research reports. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Barclays restated an “underweight” rating and issued a $73.00 price objective on shares of W.R. Berkley in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. BMO Capital Markets downgraded W.R. Berkley from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $64.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $87.00 target price on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research report on Friday, November 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company set a $66.00 price target on W.R. Berkley and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, W.R. Berkley currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $74.85.

W.R. Berkley Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a current ratio of 0.37. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.86, a PEG ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.37. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $75.55 and a 200 day moving average price of $73.07.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 20th. The insurance provider reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.07 by $0.03. W.R. Berkley had a return on equity of 18.86% and a net margin of 13.01%.The company had revenue of $3.77 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.16 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.93 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W.R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Monday, September 22nd were paid a $0.09 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 22nd. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. W.R. Berkley’s payout ratio is presently 7.56%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of WRB. Compass Financial Services Inc bought a new position in shares of W.R. Berkley in the third quarter worth approximately $26,000. Hilltop National Bank purchased a new stake in W.R. Berkley during the 2nd quarter valued at $27,000. Twin Peaks Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of W.R. Berkley in the 2nd quarter worth $27,000. Elevation Point Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of W.R. Berkley in the 2nd quarter worth $34,000. Finally, Triumph Capital Management purchased a new position in shares of W.R. Berkley in the third quarter worth $35,000. 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.