W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) Sets New 12-Month High – Still a Buy?

W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $62.12 and last traded at $62.05, with a volume of 254483 shares. The stock had previously closed at $60.94.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently issued reports on WRB. Barclays initiated coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. They set an “underweight” rating and a $56.00 price objective on the stock. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. UBS Group lifted their target price on W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their price target on W. R. Berkley from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $63.08.

W. R. Berkley Trading Up 2.0 %

The company has a market cap of $23.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.61, a P/E/G ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.36. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $58.60 and a 200 day simple moving average of $56.36.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $2.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.93 billion. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 20.41% and a net margin of 11.96%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.90 EPS. Analysts anticipate that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 3.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 23rd were given a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 23rd. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.51%. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.20%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of WRB. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 53.6% during the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 737,472 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $41,837,000 after purchasing an additional 257,211 shares in the last quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP bought a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley during the third quarter worth approximately $732,000. Sanctuary Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley during the second quarter worth approximately $4,801,000. Atria Investments Inc increased its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 49.9% during the third quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 92,574 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $5,252,000 after purchasing an additional 30,833 shares during the period. Finally, Markel Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 50.0% during the third quarter. Markel Group Inc. now owns 60,750 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $3,446,000 after purchasing an additional 20,250 shares during the period. 68.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.