W.R. Berkley Corp. (NYSE:WRB) finished Wednesday with a subtraction of -$0.08 to close at $64.35, a downside of -0.12 percent. An average of 1,035,000 shares of common stock have been traded in the last five days. There was a fall of -$1.30 in the past week, and it reached a new high 17 times over the past 12 months. The last 20 days have seen an average of 1,036,895 shares traded, while the 50-day average volume stands at 1,085,682.
WRB stock has increased by 5.82% in the last month. The company shares reached their 1-month lowest point of $60.65 on 08/28/23. With the stock rallying to its 52-week high on 01/24/23, shares of the company touched a low of $55.07 and a high of $75.88 in 52 weeks. It has reached a new high 4 times so far this year and lost -10.02% or -$8.22 in price. In spite of this, the price is down -15.19% from the 52-week high.
Valuation Metrics
W.R. Berkley Corp. (WRB) has a trailing price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 14.13. The stock’s beta is 0.60. Other valuation ratios to consider include the trailing price-to-sales (P/S) ratio at 1.42, the price-to-book (PB) ratio at 2.41, and the price-to-cash flow ratio at 6.04.
The company has a payout ratio of 7.82%. The company’s most recent quarterly dividend payment was $0.11 a share, without any change from last year. Its latest increase dividend $0.01 reported on Wednesday June 14 2023.
Financial Health
Further, the company has a long term debt to equity ratio of 0.44 and a total debt to equity ratio of 0.44 for the quarter ending June 29. Its gross profit as reported stood at $1.72 billion compared to revenue of $11.17 billion.
For investors, determining the potential profitability of the investment also depends on the performance of the company’s management. In the past 12 months, W.R. Berkley Corp.’s return on assets was 4.20%.
Earnings Surprise
For the three-month period that ended June 29, W.R. Berkley Corp. had $1.01 billion in total debt. In the quarter under review, the net income was up than the previous quarter. The company posted a net income of $356.31 million in the quarter, while revenues of $294.13 million were grew 49.67%. The analyst consensus anticipated W.R. Berkley Corp.’s latest quarter earnings to come in at $1.1 per share, but it turned out to be $1.14, a 3.60% surprise. For the quarter, EBITDA amounted to $486.2 million. At the end of the quarter ending June 29, W.R. Berkley Corp.’s stock balance sheet showed total debt was $3.03 billion. Shareholders own equity worth $257.52 million.
Technical Picture
From a technical analysis perspective, let’s take a brief look at W.R. Berkley Corp. (WRB) price momentum. RSI 9-day as of the close on 27 September was 55.93%, suggesting the stock is Neutral, with historical volatility in this time frame at 10.93%.
As of today, WRB’s price is $64.75 -1.98% or -$1.30 from its 5-day moving average. WRB is currently trading +4.21% higher than its 20-day SMA and +11.02% higher than its 100-day SMA. However, the stock’s current price level is +6.26% above the SMA50 and -13.55% below the SMA200.
The stochastic %K and %D were 70.13% and 75.25%, respectively, and the average true range (ATR) was 0.82. With the 14-day stochastic at 63.55% and the average true range at 0.84, the RSI (14) stands at 58.53%. The stock has reached -0.32 on the 9-day MACD Oscillator while the 14-day reading was at 0.34.
Analyst Ratings
BofA Securities upgraded W.R. Berkley Corp. (NYSE: WRB) to a a Buy rating in its most recent analyst report. Previously, the stock was rated as a Neutral. The consensus rating for W.R. Berkley Corp. (WRB) among analysts is Overweight. According to current brokerage recommendations, 1 brokerage firm advise that investors sell WRB, while 4 suggest investors hold. There are 0 analysts who rate the stock as underweight. The stock is rated overweight by 0 analysts, while 10 others rate it as a “buy”.
What is WRB’s price target for the next 12 months?
Analysts predict a range of price targets between $62.00 and $83.00, with a median target of $73.00. Taking a look at these predictions, the average price target given by analysts for W.R. Berkley Corp. (WRB) stock is $73.00.
