W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) Raised to Buy at StockNews.com

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

Other research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Morgan Stanley started coverage on W. R. Berkley in a report on Thursday, December 5th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $65.00 price target for the company. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Truist Financial raised their target price on W. R. Berkley from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised W. R. Berkley from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $69.00 price target for the company in a report on Monday, November 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, W. R. Berkley presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $64.36.

W. R. Berkley Stock Performance

Shares of WRB stock traded up $0.11 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $59.31. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,974,697 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,281,665. The company has a current ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The company has a 50 day moving average of $60.05 and a 200 day moving average of $58.48. W. R. Berkley has a 12-month low of $50.73 and a 12-month high of $65.49. The stock has a market cap of $22.60 billion, a PE ratio of 15.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 0.67.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The insurance provider reported $1.13 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.95 by $0.18. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 20.41% and a net margin of 11.96%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that W. R. Berkley will post 3.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. MML Investors Services LLC lifted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 49.0% in the 3rd 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 purchased a new position in W. R. Berkley during the third quarter worth about $732,000. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 53.6% during 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 acquiring an additional 257,211 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 104.1% in the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 4,154,783 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $235,701,000 after acquiring an additional 2,118,641 shares during the period. Finally, Sanctuary Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $4,801,000. 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.