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

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

A number of other brokerages have also recently weighed in on WRB. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $63.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of 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. 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 research report on Thursday, October 17th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on W. R. Berkley from $59.00 to $58.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, W. R. Berkley has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $63.82.

W. R. Berkley Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of W. R. Berkley stock traded up $0.60 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $58.10. 1,224,956 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,524,371. The company has a market cap of $22.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 0.67. W. R. Berkley has a 52 week low of $47.59 and a 52 week high of $65.49. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $60.30 and its 200 day simple moving average is $58.25. 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 announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.93 earnings per share 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 company had revenue of $2.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.93 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.90 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that W. R. Berkley will post 3.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Kings Path Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,084,000. Pensionfund Sabic grew its position in W. R. Berkley by 20.3% in the fourth quarter. Pensionfund Sabic now owns 23,750 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,390,000 after acquiring an additional 4,000 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its stake in W. R. Berkley by 6.3% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 25,098 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,466,000 after acquiring an additional 1,479 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 32.9% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 7,627 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $446,000 after acquiring an additional 1,888 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 55.1% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 7,366,424 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $417,897,000 after purchasing an additional 2,616,227 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

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.