W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Analyst Says

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) had its price objective boosted by stock analysts at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $60.00 to $61.00 in a research report issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “market perform” rating on the insurance provider’s stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods’ target price suggests a potential upside of 2.80% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other equities analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group raised W. R. Berkley from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $69.00 target price for the company in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Bank of America increased their target price on W. R. Berkley from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Barclays reduced their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $56.00 to $50.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $64.36.

W. R. Berkley Stock Up 3.2 %

WRB stock opened at $59.34 on Tuesday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $60.10 and its 200 day simple moving average is $58.39. 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 cap of $22.61 billion, a PE ratio of 15.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 0.67. W. R. Berkley has a twelve month low of $50.73 and a twelve month high of $65.49.

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 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, research analysts anticipate that W. R. Berkley will post 3.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 48.6% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 15,121,001 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $857,814,000 after purchasing an additional 4,947,830 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its stake in W. R. Berkley by 51.0% in the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 11,321,958 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $642,294,000 after buying an additional 3,825,238 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 47.9% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,591,353 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $429,266,000 after buying an additional 2,459,073 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 55.1% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 7,366,424 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $417,897,000 after acquiring an additional 2,616,227 shares during the period. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 104.1% during the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 4,154,783 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $235,701,000 after acquiring an additional 2,118,641 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.