W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) Upgraded to Buy by StockNews.com

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

WRB has been the subject of a number of other research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded shares of W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $88.00 to $83.00 in a report on Thursday, June 13th. Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $83.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $99.00 to $94.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Truist Financial dropped their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $95.00 to $93.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $86.00 target price on shares of W. R. Berkley in a report on Monday. Five 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 currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $90.44.

W. R. Berkley Price Performance

W. R. Berkley stock traded down $0.05 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $79.16. The company had a trading volume of 561,880 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,184,873. The company has a market capitalization of $20.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.04, a P/E/G ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 0.61. W. R. Berkley has a 12-month low of $57.79 and a 12-month high of $89.18. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $79.12 and its 200-day simple moving average is $79.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.36 and a quick ratio of 0.36.

Shares of W. R. Berkley are scheduled to split before the market opens on Wednesday, July 10th. The 3-2 split was announced on Wednesday, June 12th. The newly created shares will be distributed to shareholders after the closing bell on Tuesday, July 9th.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The insurance provider reported $1.56 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.46 by $0.10. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.23% and a return on equity of 20.51%. The business had revenue of $2.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.77 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.00 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that W. R. Berkley will post 5.82 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On W. R. Berkley

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of WRB. ING Groep NV lifted its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. ING Groep NV now owns 7,669 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $542,000 after purchasing an additional 128 shares during the last quarter. Wedmont Private Capital lifted its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 3.0% during the 1st quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 4,768 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $399,000 after purchasing an additional 137 shares during the last quarter. West Paces Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 12.7% during the 1st 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. Quadrant Capital Group LLC lifted its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 6.8% during the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 2,250 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $159,000 after purchasing an additional 144 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mitchell & Pahl Private Wealth LLC lifted its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Mitchell & Pahl Private Wealth LLC now owns 14,221 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,258,000 after purchasing an additional 145 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.