W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) Hits New 52-Week High – Still a Buy?

Shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) hit a new 52-week high during trading on Thursday. The stock traded as high as $79.26 and last traded at $77.6390, with a volume of 337,050 shares. The stock had previously closed at $76.71.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have weighed in on WRB shares. Weiss Ratings raised shares of W.R. Berkley from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Friday, October 16th. Atlantic Securities set a $74.00 price objective on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated a “market perform” rating on shares of W.R. Berkley in a report on Tuesday, July 21st. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of W.R. Berkley from $70.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 20th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reduced their target price on shares of W.R. Berkley from $74.00 to $71.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 26th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and six have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, W.R. Berkley presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $70.56.

W.R. Berkley Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $70.88 and a 200 day simple moving average of $69.35. The stock has a market cap of $28.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.25, a PEG ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 0.23.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 19th. The insurance provider reported $1.17 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.15 by $0.02. W.R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.53% and a return on equity of 19.70%. The company had revenue of $3.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.82 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.10 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down .8% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W.R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Monday, September 21st were given a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 21st. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. W.R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.46%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On W.R. Berkley

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. First Trust Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley by 10.5% in the 1st quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 3,972,929 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $263,326,000 after acquiring an additional 377,742 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of W.R. Berkley by 3.6% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,768,180 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $249,757,000 after acquiring an additional 129,801 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE raised its holdings in W.R. Berkley by 23.4% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 2,904,522 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $192,512,000 after acquiring an additional 550,560 shares in the last quarter. Madison Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in W.R. Berkley during the second quarter worth about $105,639,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new position in W.R. Berkley during the second quarter valued at approximately $95,040,000. 68.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

W.R. Berkley Company Profile

W.R. Berkley Corporation is an insurance holding company that operates through a group of specialized insurance businesses. The company primarily provides commercial property and casualty insurance, serving businesses, organizations and other commercial customers with coverage tailored to specific industries and risks.

Its products and services include workers’ compensation, commercial automobile, property, general liability, professional liability, directors and officers liability, excess and surplus lines, and other specialty insurance products.