W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) Stock Rating Lowered by StockNews.com

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) was downgraded by stock analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report released on Thursday.

Other analysts have also issued reports about the company. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $68.00 to $67.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on W. R. Berkley from $59.00 to $58.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Barclays dropped their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $56.00 to $50.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. 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 on the stock. Finally, UBS Group increased their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, W. R. Berkley currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $63.74.

W. R. Berkley Trading Down 1.3 %

Shares of NYSE WRB opened at $59.57 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.70 billion, a PE ratio of 15.26, a PEG ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 0.67. W. R. Berkley has a one year low of $48.69 and a one year high of $65.49. The company has a current ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $60.28 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $58.48.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.01. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 11.96% and a return on equity of 20.41%. The firm had revenue of $2.93 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.93 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.90 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that W. R. Berkley will post 3.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On W. R. Berkley

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in WRB. Wedmont Private Capital raised its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 8,038 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $456,000 after acquiring an additional 181 shares during the last quarter. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. increased its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 49.9% during the 2nd quarter. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. now owns 580 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 193 shares in the last quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. raised its position in W. R. Berkley by 51.0% in the 3rd quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. now owns 619 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 209 shares during the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its stake in W. R. Berkley by 1.7% in the second quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 12,879 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,012,000 after purchasing an additional 212 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Benjamin Edwards Inc. grew its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 12.2% during the second quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 2,173 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $171,000 after purchasing an additional 236 shares during the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.