W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) Rating Lowered to “Hold” at StockNews.com

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

Several other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on WRB. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $56.00 to $50.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $63.74.

W. R. Berkley Price Performance

Shares of WRB opened at $59.92 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $22.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.35, a PEG ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 0.67. W. R. Berkley has a fifty-two week low of $48.48 and a fifty-two week high of $65.49. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $60.29 and its 200 day moving average price is $58.42.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. The business had revenue of $2.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.93 billion. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 20.41% and a net margin of 11.96%. The company’s revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.90 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that W. R. Berkley will post 3.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Acadian Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 373.5% in the second quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 6,014 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $471,000 after acquiring an additional 4,744 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in W. R. Berkley by 6.3% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 351,146 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $27,593,000 after purchasing an additional 20,687 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its position in W. R. Berkley by 4.3% during the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 835,528 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $65,656,000 after purchasing an additional 34,138 shares during the last quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. increased its stake in W. R. Berkley by 2,212.4% in the second quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 3,538 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $278,000 after purchasing an additional 3,385 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 7.4% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,037,599 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $160,128,000 after buying an additional 139,588 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

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.