W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) Given New $67.00 Price Target at Wells Fargo & Company

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) had its price target dropped by analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from $68.00 to $67.00 in a report issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “overweight” rating on the insurance provider’s stock. Wells Fargo & Company‘s price objective suggests a potential upside of 16.64% from the stock’s current price.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Morgan Stanley began coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $65.00 target price for the company. Bank of America boosted their price target on W. R. Berkley from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Barclays lowered their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $56.00 to $50.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $63.74.

W. R. Berkley Stock Performance

NYSE WRB traded up $0.14 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $57.44. The company had a trading volume of 98,953 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,449,538. The business has a 50 day moving average of $60.30 and a 200-day moving average of $58.36. The company has a market cap of $21.89 billion, a PE ratio of 14.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 0.67. W. R. Berkley has a 1-year low of $48.48 and a 1-year high of $65.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.36.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last announced its earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $2.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.93 billion. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 20.41% and a net margin of 11.96%. The business’s revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.90 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that W. R. Berkley will post 3.96 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WRB. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 48.6% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 15,121,001 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $857,814,000 after buying an additional 4,947,830 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its stake in W. R. Berkley by 51.0% in the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 11,321,958 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $642,294,000 after acquiring an additional 3,825,238 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted 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 purchasing an additional 2,616,227 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 211.3% during 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. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew 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 purchasing an additional 2,459,073 shares during the period. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.