W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) Given New $69.00 Price Target at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) had its price objective boosted by equities research analysts at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $67.00 to $69.00 in a report released on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “market perform” rating on the insurance provider’s stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods’ price objective indicates a potential downside of 4.59% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other research firms have also issued reports on WRB. Weiss Ratings lowered W.R. Berkley from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 20th. UBS Group set a $68.00 price target on shares of W.R. Berkley and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Cantor Fitzgerald cut W.R. Berkley from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $75.00 to $71.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Wall Street Zen upgraded W.R. Berkley from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, April 25th. Finally, Wolfe Research downgraded W.R. Berkley from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 1st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and five have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $68.69.

W.R. Berkley Trading Up 1.1%

NYSE:WRB traded up $0.78 on Wednesday, reaching $72.32. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 311,487 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,210,469. The firm has a market cap of $26.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.35 and a beta of 0.29. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. W.R. Berkley has a 12-month low of $62.87 and a 12-month high of $78.96. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $67.67 and a 200 day moving average price of $68.25.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.30 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.13 by $0.17. The company had revenue of $3.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.18 billion. W.R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.64% and a return on equity of 18.92%. W.R. Berkley’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.01 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that W.R. Berkley will post 4.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On W.R. Berkley

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of WRB. Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of W.R. Berkley during the fourth quarter worth about $3,542,919,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 37,033,581 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,596,795,000 after purchasing an additional 309,828 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley by 1.0% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 14,921,114 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,143,256,000 after purchasing an additional 149,605 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of W.R. Berkley during the fourth quarter worth $435,752,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in W.R. Berkley by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,913,337 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $344,523,000 after buying an additional 20,538 shares during the period. 68.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

W.R. Berkley Company Profile

W. R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE: WRB) is a publicly traded insurance holding company that underwrites and sells commercial property and casualty insurance, specialty insurance products, and reinsurance. Headquartered in Greenwich, Connecticut, the company operates a portfolio of underwriting businesses that focus on niche and specialty commercial risks, offering coverage tailored to industries such as transportation, construction, professional services and other commercial lines.

The company’s product mix includes primary and excess casualty, property, professional liability, environmental and other specialty lines, together with treaty and facultative reinsurance solutions.