W. R. Berkley’s (WRB) “Neutral” Rating Reaffirmed at Bank of America

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB)‘s stock had its “neutral” rating reissued by stock analysts at Bank of America in a research report issued on Tuesday, Marketbeat reports. They presently have a $74.00 target price on the insurance provider’s stock, up from their previous target price of $73.00. Bank of America‘s target price points to a potential upside of 6.12% from the company’s current price.

Other analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $63.00 price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted 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. Morgan Stanley began coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $65.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on W. R. Berkley from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $64.21.

W. R. Berkley Stock Performance

WRB opened at $69.73 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $62.37 and a 200-day moving average of $60.43. 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 has a 52-week low of $50.73 and a 52-week high of $76.38. The company has a market cap of $26.44 billion, a PE ratio of 15.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.63.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The insurance provider reported $1.13 earnings per share (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%. As a group, 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 institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WRB. 111 Capital bought a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley during the 4th quarter valued at about $304,000. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lifted its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 376.1% in the fourth quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 63,750 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $3,731,000 after purchasing an additional 50,361 shares in the last quarter. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH boosted its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 8.0% during the 4th quarter. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH now owns 13,491 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $789,000 after acquiring an additional 995 shares during the last quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new stake in W. R. Berkley during the fourth quarter worth $14,057,000. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in W. R. Berkley in the 4th quarter valued at $5,676,000. 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.