W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) Raised to Buy at StockNews.com

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

Several other equities research analysts also recently commented on the company. Morgan Stanley started coverage on W. R. Berkley in a report on Thursday, December 5th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $65.00 price objective for the company. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $63.00 price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, W. R. Berkley has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $64.36.

W. R. Berkley Trading Up 1.0 %

NYSE:WRB opened at $63.72 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $24.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.60, a PEG ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.67. 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’s 50 day moving average price is $59.70 and its 200-day moving average price is $59.51. W. R. Berkley has a 52 week low of $50.73 and a 52 week high of $65.49.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last issued its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The insurance provider reported $1.13 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.95 by $0.18. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 20.83% and a net margin of 12.88%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that W. R. Berkley will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of W. R. Berkley

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Pullen Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Pullen Investment Management LLC now owns 22,954 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,343,000 after buying an additional 161 shares in the last quarter. Wedmont Private Capital raised its stake in W. R. Berkley by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 8,038 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $456,000 after acquiring an additional 181 shares during the period. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 5,289 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $310,000 after purchasing an additional 188 shares in the last quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. boosted its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 107.3% in the fourth quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. now owns 427 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 221 shares during the period. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC increased its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 15,632 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $915,000 after purchasing an additional 235 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

About W. R. Berkley

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.