W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) Upgraded by StockNews.com to Buy Rating

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) was upgraded by analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued on Tuesday.

A number of other research analysts have also weighed in on the company. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $63.00 price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley in a report on Tuesday. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on W. R. Berkley in a report on Thursday, December 5th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $65.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on W. R. Berkley from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday. One investment 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, W. R. Berkley currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $64.36.

W. R. Berkley Stock Performance

NYSE WRB traded up $0.11 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $59.31. The company had a trading volume of 2,974,697 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,281,665. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.36. The company has a market cap of $22.60 billion, a PE ratio of 15.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 0.67. The business has a 50 day moving average of $60.05 and a 200-day moving average of $58.48. W. R. Berkley has a 1-year low of $50.73 and a 1-year high of $65.49.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last announced its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The insurance provider reported $1.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that W. R. Berkley will post 3.95 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of W. R. Berkley

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of WRB. MML Investors Services LLC grew its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 49.0% during the 3rd quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 39,035 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,214,000 after purchasing an additional 12,830 shares in the last quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP purchased a new position in W. R. Berkley in the 3rd quarter valued at about $732,000. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 53.6% during the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 737,472 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $41,837,000 after acquiring an additional 257,211 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 104.1% during the third 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. Finally, Sanctuary Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley in the second quarter worth about $4,801,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.