W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) Price Target Raised to $76.00 at Bank of America

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) had its target price lifted by equities researchers at Bank of America from $73.00 to $76.00 in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “buy” rating on the insurance provider’s stock. Bank of America‘s price target would indicate a potential upside of 30.97% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other equities research analysts have also commented on the company. UBS Group raised their price target on W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. TD Cowen initiated coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research note on Monday, July 1st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $68.67 price target on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $63.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective 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. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $63.08.

W. R. Berkley Trading Down 4.9 %

W. R. Berkley stock traded down $3.00 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $58.03. 1,475,436 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,798,844. W. R. Berkley has a 52 week low of $41.82 and a 52 week high of $61.96. The company has a quick ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 0.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.25 billion, a PE ratio of 15.43, a P/E/G ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $58.24 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $55.55.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $2.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.93 billion. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.05% and a return on equity of 21.34%. The firm’s revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.90 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that W. R. Berkley will post 4.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On W. R. Berkley

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Sanctuary Advisors LLC bought a new stake in W. R. Berkley during the second quarter worth $4,801,000. Prudential PLC lifted its stake in W. R. Berkley by 205.9% in the 2nd quarter. Prudential PLC now owns 68,526 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $5,385,000 after purchasing an additional 46,125 shares during the last quarter. Stoneridge Investment Partners LLC bought a new position in W. R. Berkley during the second quarter worth about $3,245,000. CHB Investment Group LLC acquired a new position in W. R. Berkley during the third quarter worth approximately $2,880,000. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC raised its stake in W. R. Berkley by 25.6% in the second quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 49,310 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $3,875,000 after buying an additional 10,053 shares during the period. 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.