W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) Rating Increased to Buy at StockNews.com

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

Several other equities analysts have also issued reports on the company. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on 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. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $99.00 to $94.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on W. R. Berkley from $88.00 to $86.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. UBS Group upped their price target on W. R. Berkley from $81.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on W. R. Berkley from $86.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $90.38.

W. R. Berkley Stock Performance

NYSE WRB opened at $78.56 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $20.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.93, a PEG ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 0.60. W. R. Berkley has a twelve month low of $55.50 and a twelve month high of $89.18. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $83.67 and a 200 day simple moving average of $76.96. The company has a quick ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The insurance provider reported $1.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.46 by $0.10. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 21.01% and a net margin of 12.23%. The company had revenue of $2.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.77 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.00 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that W. R. Berkley will post 5.87 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On W. R. Berkley

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. WBI Investments LLC lifted its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 103.1% during the first quarter. WBI Investments LLC now owns 83,649 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $7,398,000 after purchasing an additional 42,460 shares in the last quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S lifted its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 606.2% during the 1st quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 72,569 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $6,418,000 after buying an additional 62,293 shares in the last quarter. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division purchased a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley in the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,902,000. Chase Investment Counsel Corp bought a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley in the first quarter valued at approximately $1,584,000. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 3.3% during the first quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 36,109 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $3,194,000 after acquiring an additional 1,146 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.