W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) Earns Neutral Rating from Bank of America

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB)‘s stock had its “neutral” rating reiterated by equities research analysts at Bank of America in a report released on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $74.00 target price on the insurance provider’s stock, up from their prior target price of $73.00. Bank of America‘s price target suggests a potential upside of 3.96% from the company’s current price.

A number of other brokerages also recently issued reports on WRB. StockNews.com upgraded W. R. Berkley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 26th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $63.00 price target on shares of W. R. Berkley in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $64.21.

W. R. Berkley Stock Down 0.1 %

NYSE WRB opened at $71.18 on Tuesday. W. R. Berkley has a one year low of $50.73 and a one year high of $76.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.36. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $61.93 and a 200-day moving average price of $60.28. The company has a market capitalization of $26.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.31, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.63.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last announced its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The insurance provider reported $1.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.95 by $0.18. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.88% and a return on equity of 20.83%. As a group, equities analysts predict that W. R. Berkley will post 4.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On W. R. Berkley

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Pullen Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Pullen Investment Management LLC now owns 22,954 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,343,000 after buying an additional 161 shares during the last quarter. Wedmont Private Capital increased its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 8,038 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $456,000 after acquiring an additional 181 shares in the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in W. R. Berkley by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 5,289 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $310,000 after purchasing an additional 188 shares in the last quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. grew its position in W. R. Berkley by 107.3% during the 4th quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. now owns 427 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 221 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC raised its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 15,632 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $915,000 after buying an additional 235 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.