W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) Raised to “Buy” at StockNews.com

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) was upgraded by stock analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report issued on Friday.

A number of other analysts have also recently commented on the company. Evercore ISI boosted their price target 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. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on W. R. Berkley from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Truist Financial raised their price target on W. R. Berkley from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $63.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, W. R. Berkley currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $64.22.

W. R. Berkley Stock Down 0.6 %

WRB stock opened at $64.55 on Friday. W. R. Berkley has a fifty-two week low of $45.75 and a fifty-two week high of $65.49. The company has a market capitalization of $24.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 0.62. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $59.41 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $56.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.36.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.01. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 20.41% and a net margin of 11.96%. The business had revenue of $2.93 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.93 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.90 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that W. R. Berkley will post 3.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On W. R. Berkley

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in W. R. Berkley by 182.0% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 41,723 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,473,000 after buying an additional 26,930 shares in the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC grew its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 150.3% during the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 48,849 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,771,000 after purchasing an additional 29,329 shares in the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new stake in W. R. Berkley during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $98,000. World Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in W. R. Berkley in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,709,000. Finally, Anchor Investment Management LLC bought a new position in W. R. Berkley in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $88,000. Institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

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.