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

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

WRB has been the subject of a number of other reports. Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $65.00 price objective for the company. Bank of America upped their target price on W. R. Berkley from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $63.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $64.28.

W. R. Berkley Stock Performance

Shares of WRB stock opened at $61.29 on Wednesday. W. R. Berkley has a 12-month low of $45.75 and a 12-month high of $65.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 0.36 and a quick ratio of 0.36. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 0.65. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $60.27 and a 200 day simple moving average of $57.44.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $2.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.93 billion. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 11.96% and a return on equity of 20.41%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.90 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that W. R. Berkley will post 3.96 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. raised its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 49.9% during the 2nd quarter. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. now owns 580 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 193 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 0.5% in the second quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 39,857 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $3,132,000 after purchasing an additional 202 shares in the last quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. boosted its position in 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 acquiring an additional 209 shares during the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 1.7% during the second quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 12,879 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,012,000 after purchasing an additional 212 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Resonant Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC now owns 12,361 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $971,000 after buying an additional 216 shares during the last quarter. 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.