W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) Sets New 52-Week High at $87.19

W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) reached a new 52-week high during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $87.19 and last traded at $86.91, with a volume of 99273 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $86.72.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WRB has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $73.00 to $79.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $71.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 27th. Truist Financial boosted their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $83.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $84.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $84.11.

W. R. Berkley Trading Up 1.9 %

The business’s 50-day moving average price is $82.83 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $73.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 0.37 and a quick ratio of 0.37. The firm has a market cap of $22.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 0.57.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 24th. The insurance provider reported $1.45 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.35 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $3.22 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.70 billion. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 11.38% and a return on equity of 19.03%. The company’s revenue was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.16 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 6 earnings per share for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 13th. Investors of record on Monday, March 4th were given a dividend of $0.11 per share. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 1st. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.70%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On W. R. Berkley

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of WRB. ING Groep NV increased its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. ING Groep NV now owns 7,669 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $542,000 after acquiring an additional 128 shares in the last quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC increased its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 6.8% in the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 2,250 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $159,000 after acquiring an additional 144 shares in the last quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC increased its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 9,180 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $649,000 after acquiring an additional 147 shares in the last quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC increased its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 17,244 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,220,000 after acquiring an additional 148 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Claro Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Claro Advisors LLC now owns 9,832 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $695,000 after acquiring an additional 156 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

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.