W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) Releases Quarterly Earnings Results

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday. The insurance provider reported $1.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.46 by $0.10, Briefing.com reports. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.23% and a return on equity of 21.01%. The company had revenue of $2.76 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.77 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.00 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year.

W. R. Berkley Price Performance

W. R. Berkley stock opened at $77.85 on Thursday. W. R. Berkley has a 52-week low of $55.50 and a 52-week high of $89.18. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $84.47 and a 200-day moving average of $76.21. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.80, a PEG ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a quick ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38.

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 0.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 1st. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 7.80%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on WRB shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $85.00 to $88.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $86.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $99.00 to $94.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $88.00 to $86.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $83.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $90.63.

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.