W. R. Berkley’s (WRB) “Neutral” Rating Reaffirmed at Bank of America

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB)‘s stock had its “neutral” rating reaffirmed by research analysts at Bank of America in a note issued to investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $74.00 price target on the insurance provider’s stock, up from their prior price target of $73.00. Bank of America‘s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 3.96% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other analysts also recently commented on the company. Morgan Stanley began coverage on W. R. Berkley in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $65.00 target price on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $63.00 price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of W. R. Berkley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 26th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, W. R. Berkley has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $64.21.

W. R. Berkley Stock Performance

WRB opened at $71.18 on Tuesday. 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 has a 12-month low of $50.73 and a 12-month high of $76.38. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $61.93 and a two-hundred day moving average of $60.28. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.99 billion, a PE ratio of 16.31, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.63.

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On W. R. Berkley

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 36,436,473 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,132,262,000 after buying an additional 529,294 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 48.6% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 15,121,001 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $857,814,000 after acquiring an additional 4,947,830 shares during the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC grew its position in W. R. Berkley by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 11,722,476 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $685,999,000 after acquiring an additional 116,957 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its stake in W. R. Berkley by 51.0% during the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 11,321,958 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $642,294,000 after acquiring an additional 3,825,238 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in W. R. Berkley by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,694,703 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $449,168,000 after purchasing an additional 103,350 shares during the period. 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.