W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) Rating Lowered to Hold at StockNews.com

by · The Cerbat Gem

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB – Get Free Report) was downgraded by StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report released on Monday.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on WRB. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of W. R. Berkley from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $69.00 price target for the company in a research report on Monday, November 25th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $63.00 price target on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Morgan Stanley began coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $65.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. One research 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 MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $64.36.

Read Our Latest Research Report on WRB

W. R. Berkley Trading Down 1.6 %

Shares of WRB stock opened at $61.98 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $60.14 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $59.71. 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 capitalization of $23.50 billion, a PE ratio of 14.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.63. W. R. Berkley has a 12-month low of $50.73 and a 12-month high of $65.49.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The insurance provider reported $1.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.95 by $0.18. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.88% and a return on equity of 20.83%. As a group, analysts predict that W. R. Berkley will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of W. R. Berkley

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of WRB. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 48.6% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 15,121,001 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $857,814,000 after purchasing an additional 4,947,830 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley in the fourth quarter worth $272,582,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its stake in shares of 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 worth $642,294,000 after purchasing an additional 3,825,238 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 55.1% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 7,366,424 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $417,897,000 after purchasing an additional 2,616,227 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 211.3% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,674,171 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $208,436,000 after purchasing an additional 2,493,758 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

W. R. Berkley Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

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.

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