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

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

Several other equities research analysts have also recently commented on WRB. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of W. R. Berkley from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $69.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Monday. Truist Financial boosted their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $59.00 to $58.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Barclays began coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. They issued an “underweight” rating and a $56.00 target price on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $64.22.

W. R. Berkley Trading Up 0.9 %

WRB opened at $64.94 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.64, a P/E/G ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 0.62. W. R. Berkley has a 12 month low of $45.75 and a 12 month high of $65.49. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $59.27 and its 200 day simple moving average is $56.79. The company has a current ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.01. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 11.96% and a return on equity of 20.41%. The firm had revenue of $2.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.93 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.90 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that W. R. Berkley will post 3.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. MJP Associates Inc. ADV grew its stake in W. R. Berkley by 4.0% in the 2nd quarter. MJP Associates Inc. ADV now owns 4,915 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $386,000 after buying an additional 188 shares during the last quarter. Atria Investments Inc grew its stake in W. R. Berkley by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 50,637 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $4,478,000 after buying an additional 189 shares during the last quarter. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. grew its stake in W. R. Berkley by 49.9% in the 2nd quarter. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. now owns 580 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 193 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. grew its stake in W. R. Berkley by 0.5% in the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 39,857 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $3,132,000 after buying an additional 202 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. grew its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 51.0% during the 3rd quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. now owns 619 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 209 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.