Wall Street Zen Upgrades W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) to Hold
by Doug Wharley · The Cerbat GemW.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB – Get Free Report) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued on Saturday.
A number of other brokerages also recently commented on WRB. Evercore restated an “underperform” rating on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research note on Monday, March 9th. Barclays lifted their target price on W.R. Berkley from $62.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Brean Capital downgraded W.R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $73.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, March 25th. TD Cowen downgraded W.R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “sell” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $77.00 to $55.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $73.00 target price on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research note on Wednesday, January 7th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $68.88.
Check Out Our Latest Research Report on WRB
W.R. Berkley Stock Performance
Shares of WRB stock opened at $66.48 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The business has a 50 day moving average of $67.96 and a two-hundred day moving average of $70.49. W.R. Berkley has a 52 week low of $63.67 and a 52 week high of $78.96. The company has a market cap of $24.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.08, a PEG ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 0.37.
W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB – Get Free Report) last issued 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. W.R. Berkley had a return on equity of 18.99% and a net margin of 12.64%.The company had revenue of $3.69 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.18 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.01 earnings per share. W.R. Berkley’s quarterly revenue was up 1.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that W.R. Berkley will post 4.6 EPS for the current year.
Insider Activity
In other W.R. Berkley news, major shareholder Sumitomo Insurance Co L. Mitsui acquired 350,000 shares of W.R. Berkley stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 27th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $67.42 per share, for a total transaction of $23,597,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 55,309,504 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,728,966,759.68. This represents a 0.64% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders purchased 3,780,946 shares of company stock worth $264,244,958 in the last three months. Insiders own 23.00% of the company’s stock.
Hedge Funds Weigh In On W.R. Berkley
Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund raised its stake in W.R. Berkley by 8.9% during the 3rd quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund now owns 202,243 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $15,496,000 after purchasing an additional 16,450 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in W.R. Berkley by 4.9% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 5,241,509 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $401,607,000 after purchasing an additional 242,546 shares during the period. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S raised its stake in W.R. Berkley by 133.5% during the 3rd quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 31,520 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,415,000 after purchasing an additional 18,022 shares during the period. AlphaQuest LLC acquired a new stake in W.R. Berkley during the 3rd quarter valued at $3,762,000. Finally, Stance Capital LLC raised its stake in W.R. Berkley by 376.1% during the 3rd quarter. Stance Capital LLC now owns 48,119 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $3,687,000 after purchasing an additional 38,013 shares during the period. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
About W.R. Berkley
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.