W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) Price Target Raised to $72.00 at Mizuho

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) had its price objective increased by Mizuho from $68.00 to $72.00 in a research note released on Thursday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. They currently have a neutral rating on the insurance provider’s stock.

Several other research analysts also recently weighed in on WRB. BMO Capital Markets raised shares of W.R. Berkley from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $64.00 to $68.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on W.R. Berkley from $67.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Barclays restated an “underweight” rating and issued a $62.00 price target (down from $64.00) on shares of W.R. Berkley in a report on Friday, June 12th. Brean Capital downgraded shares of W.R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $73.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, March 25th. Finally, Argus lowered W.R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and five have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $69.75.

W.R. Berkley Stock Up 0.6%

W.R. Berkley stock opened at $71.74 on Thursday. W.R. Berkley has a fifty-two week low of $62.87 and a fifty-two week high of $78.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.36. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $67.87 and its two-hundred day moving average is $68.28. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.29.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.13 by $0.17. The company had revenue of $3.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.18 billion. W.R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.64% and a return on equity of 18.92%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.01 earnings per share. Analysts predict that W.R. Berkley will post 4.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W.R. Berkley Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 23rd were given a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 23rd. This is an increase from W.R. Berkley’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.09. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.6%. W.R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is 8.47%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of W.R. Berkley in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $3,542,919,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in W.R. Berkley by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 37,033,581 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,596,795,000 after purchasing an additional 309,828 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley by 1.0% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 14,921,114 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,143,256,000 after purchasing an additional 149,605 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of W.R. Berkley in the 4th quarter worth about $435,752,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in W.R. Berkley by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,913,337 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $344,523,000 after acquiring an additional 20,538 shares during the period. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About W.R. Berkley

W. R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE: WRB) is a publicly traded insurance holding company that underwrites and sells commercial property and casualty insurance, specialty insurance products, and reinsurance. Headquartered in Greenwich, Connecticut, the company operates a portfolio of underwriting businesses that focus on niche and specialty commercial risks, offering coverage tailored to industries such as transportation, construction, professional services and other commercial lines.

The company’s product mix includes primary and excess casualty, property, professional liability, environmental and other specialty lines, together with treaty and facultative reinsurance solutions.