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

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) was upgraded by StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday.

Several other research analysts have also weighed in on WRB. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $81.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. Evercore ISI raised 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 note on Thursday, April 11th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered 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 note on Wednesday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $85.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Truist Financial decreased their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $95.00 to $93.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $90.63.

W. R. Berkley Trading Up 0.1 %

W. R. Berkley stock traded up $0.06 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $77.91. 1,850,036 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,266,824. W. R. Berkley has a fifty-two week low of $55.50 and a fifty-two week high of $89.18. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.81, a PEG ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 0.57. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $84.38 and its 200 day simple moving average is $76.22. The company has a current ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The insurance provider reported $1.56 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.46 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $2.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.77 billion. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.23% and a return on equity of 21.01%. W. R. Berkley’s revenue was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.00 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that W. R. Berkley will post 5.93 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On W. R. Berkley

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in WRB. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC boosted its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 4.9% during the 3rd quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 9,680 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $615,000 after purchasing an additional 456 shares in the last quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC boosted its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC now owns 5,195 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $330,000 after buying an additional 222 shares in the last quarter. Czech National Bank boosted its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 49.6% in the 3rd quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 35,557 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,258,000 after buying an additional 11,786 shares in the last quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB boosted its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 16.8% in the 3rd quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 47,655 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $3,026,000 after buying an additional 6,865 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Simplicity Solutions LLC boosted its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Simplicity Solutions LLC now owns 17,096 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,085,000 after buying an additional 386 shares in the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.