W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) Receives “Sector Perform” Rating from Royal Bank of Canada

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB)‘s stock had its “sector perform” rating reissued by investment analysts at Royal Bank of Canada in a research note issued on Monday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $86.00 price target on the insurance provider’s stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 8.57% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other research analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded shares of W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the company from $88.00 to $83.00 in a research report on Thursday, June 13th. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $95.00 to $93.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $83.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on W. R. Berkley from $88.00 to $86.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, StockNews.com cut W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, June 14th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, W. R. Berkley has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $90.44.

W. R. Berkley Price Performance

WRB opened at $79.21 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.36 and a quick ratio of 0.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 0.61. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $79.09 and its 200-day simple moving average is $79.89. W. R. Berkley has a one year low of $57.79 and a one year high of $89.18.

W. R. Berkley’s stock is going to split on Wednesday, July 10th. The 3-2 split was announced on Wednesday, June 12th. The newly minted shares will be issued to shareholders after the closing bell on Tuesday, July 9th.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The insurance provider reported $1.56 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.46 by $0.10. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 20.51% and a net margin of 12.23%. The company had revenue of $2.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.77 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.00 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that W. R. Berkley will post 5.82 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On W. R. Berkley

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. LPL Financial LLC increased its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 57.2% during the 3rd quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 108,718 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $6,903,000 after purchasing an additional 39,561 shares in the last quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in W. R. Berkley by 124.8% in the 3rd quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC now owns 9,079 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $576,000 after acquiring an additional 5,040 shares in the last quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec boosted its position in W. R. Berkley by 5,937.6% during the 3rd quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 66,534 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $4,224,000 after acquiring an additional 65,432 shares during the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 166.2% during the 3rd quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 17,815 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,130,000 after acquiring an additional 11,123 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Glenmede Trust Co. NA raised its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 18.5% in the third quarter. Glenmede Trust Co. NA now owns 6,293 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $400,000 after purchasing an additional 982 shares during the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.