W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) Stock Rating Lowered by StockNews.com

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) was downgraded by equities research analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued on Thursday.

WRB has been the topic of several other reports. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $62.00 to $59.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $62.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $57.00 target price on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. TD Cowen started coverage on W. R. Berkley in a report on Monday, July 1st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $103.00 price target on the stock. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $88.00 to $83.00 in a report on Thursday, June 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $77.70.

W. R. Berkley Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE:WRB opened at $57.63 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $57.19 and its 200-day moving average is $71.61. W. R. Berkley has a 1 year low of $41.37 and a 1 year high of $61.28. The company has a market capitalization of $22.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.33, a P/E/G ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.38 and a quick ratio of 0.38.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 22nd. The insurance provider reported $1.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $3.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.84 billion. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 21.34% and a net margin of 12.05%. The company’s revenue was up 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.14 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that W. R. Berkley will post 4.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On W. R. Berkley

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of WRB. Wedmont Private Capital boosted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 3.0% in the 1st quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 4,768 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $399,000 after buying an additional 137 shares during the last quarter. West Paces Advisors Inc. boosted its position in W. R. Berkley by 12.7% in the first quarter. West Paces Advisors Inc. now owns 1,228 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $109,000 after purchasing an additional 138 shares during the last quarter. Hutchens & Kramer Investment Management Group LLC grew its stake in W. R. Berkley by 5.8% in the 1st quarter. Hutchens & Kramer Investment Management Group LLC now owns 3,166 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $277,000 after purchasing an additional 174 shares during the period. MJP Associates Inc. ADV increased its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 4.0% during the 2nd quarter. MJP Associates Inc. ADV now owns 4,915 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $386,000 after purchasing an additional 188 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Atria Investments Inc raised its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 50,637 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $4,478,000 after purchasing an additional 189 shares during the period. 68.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.