W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) Given New $87.00 Price Target at BMO Capital Markets

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) had its price objective cut by analysts at BMO Capital Markets from $93.00 to $87.00 in a report issued on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “market perform” rating on the insurance provider’s stock. BMO Capital Markets’ target price would indicate a potential upside of 11.67% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on WRB. Evercore ISI upped their target price on W. R. Berkley from $83.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. StockNews.com cut W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on W. R. Berkley from $99.00 to $94.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. UBS Group upped their price target on W. R. Berkley from $81.00 to $93.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on W. R. Berkley from $86.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, W. R. Berkley presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $90.63.

W. R. Berkley Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of W. R. Berkley stock opened at $77.91 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. The firm has a market cap of $19.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.81, a P/E/G ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 0.57. W. R. Berkley has a fifty-two week low of $55.50 and a fifty-two week high of $89.18. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $84.38 and a 200 day moving average price of $76.22.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The insurance provider reported $1.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.46 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $2.76 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.77 billion. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 21.01% and a net margin of 12.23%. The business’s revenue was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.00 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that W. R. Berkley will post 5.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On W. R. Berkley

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in WRB. EULAV Asset Management lifted its position in W. R. Berkley by 4.4% in the 3rd quarter. EULAV Asset Management now owns 945,260 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $60,015,000 after acquiring an additional 39,716 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in W. R. Berkley in the 4th quarter valued at $8,970,000. NatWest Group plc bought a new stake in W. R. Berkley during the 4th quarter worth about $8,791,000. Financial Strategies Group Inc. lifted its position in W. R. Berkley by 29.6% during the 4th quarter. Financial Strategies Group Inc. now owns 53,112 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $4,126,000 after buying an additional 12,140 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC lifted its position in W. R. Berkley by 11.7% during the 4th quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 185,251 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $13,101,000 after buying an additional 19,408 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.