StockNews.com Downgrades W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) to Hold

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

WRB has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Barclays upped their target price on W. R. Berkley from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $63.00 price target on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on W. R. Berkley from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded 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, November 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $64.36.

W. R. Berkley Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of WRB opened at $62.57 on Monday. W. R. Berkley has a 52 week low of $50.73 and a 52 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 company has a market capitalization of $23.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.34, a PEG ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.63. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $59.98 and its 200-day moving average price is $59.65.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last issued its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The insurance provider reported $1.13 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.95 by $0.18. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 20.83% and a net margin of 12.88%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that W. R. Berkley will post 4.33 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On W. R. Berkley

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. MML Investors Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 49.0% in the third quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 39,035 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,214,000 after purchasing an additional 12,830 shares during the last quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP acquired a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley in the third quarter valued at approximately $732,000. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 53.6% in the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 737,472 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $41,837,000 after purchasing an additional 257,211 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 104.1% in the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 4,154,783 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $235,701,000 after purchasing an additional 2,118,641 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 211.3% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,674,171 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $208,436,000 after purchasing an additional 2,493,758 shares during 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.