W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) Raised 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 report released on Saturday.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on 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 target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $99.00 to $94.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $86.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Truist Financial cut their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $95.00 to $93.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on W. R. Berkley from $88.00 to $86.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $90.38.

W. R. Berkley Price Performance

WRB stock opened at $78.56 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $20.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.93, a PEG ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $83.67 and a 200-day moving average price of $76.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a current ratio of 0.37. W. R. Berkley has a 52-week low of $55.50 and a 52-week high of $89.18.

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. As a group, equities 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 and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in WRB. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley in the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Glassman Wealth Services lifted its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 123.1% during the fourth quarter. Glassman Wealth Services now owns 357 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 197 shares during the last quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust increased its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 106.1% in the third quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 406 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 209 shares in the last quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 132.6% in the third quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 414 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 236 shares during the period. Finally, VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $27,000. 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.