W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) Receives New Coverage from Analysts at Barclays

Research analysts at Barclays started coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) in a report released on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage set an “underweight” rating and a $56.00 price target on the insurance provider’s stock. Barclays‘s target price points to a potential downside of 7.56% from the stock’s current price.

WRB has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $62.00 to $59.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. TD Cowen began coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a report on Monday, July 1st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $68.67 price target for the company. Truist Financial raised 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 note on Tuesday, July 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded shares of W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $58.67 to $55.33 in a research note on Thursday, June 13th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $57.00 price target on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, W. R. Berkley has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $59.67.

W. R. Berkley Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of WRB stock opened at $60.58 on Wednesday. W. R. Berkley has a 52-week low of $40.79 and a 52-week high of $61.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a current ratio of 0.38. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.23 billion, a PE ratio of 16.11, a PEG ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 0.62. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $56.35 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $55.24.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 22nd. The insurance provider reported $1.04 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $3.31 billion during 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 business’s quarterly revenue was up 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.14 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that W. R. Berkley will post 4.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On W. R. Berkley

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Sound Income Strategies LLC grew its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 563.2% in the first quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 451 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 383 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP purchased a new position in W. R. Berkley in the second quarter worth $42,000. Intelligent Financial Strategies purchased a new position in W. R. Berkley in the first quarter worth $44,000. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. grew its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 49.9% in the second quarter. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. now owns 580 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 193 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Covestor Ltd grew its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 173.0% in the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 546 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $48,000 after purchasing an additional 346 shares during the last quarter. 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.