Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Trims W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) Target Price to $86.00

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) had its price objective reduced by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $88.00 to $86.00 in a report released on Friday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “market perform” rating on the insurance provider’s stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods’ price objective indicates a potential upside of 9.47% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded shares of W. R. Berkley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $93.00 to $87.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $88.00 to $86.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $83.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Truist Financial reduced their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $95.00 to $93.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $90.38.

W. R. Berkley Stock Performance

Shares of WRB opened at $78.56 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $83.67 and its 200 day moving average price is $76.88. W. R. Berkley has a 52 week low of $55.50 and a 52 week high of $89.18. The company has a market capitalization of $20.15 billion, a PE ratio of 13.93, a PEG ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a current ratio of 0.37.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The insurance provider reported $1.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.46 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $2.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.77 billion. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.23% and a return on equity of 21.01%. The company’s revenue was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.00 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that W. R. Berkley will post 5.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On W. R. Berkley

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. EULAV Asset Management raised its stake in W. R. Berkley by 4.4% during the 3rd quarter. EULAV Asset Management now owns 945,260 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $60,015,000 after purchasing an additional 39,716 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in W. R. Berkley during the 4th quarter valued at $8,970,000. NatWest Group plc acquired a new position in W. R. Berkley during the 4th quarter valued at $8,791,000. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new position in W. R. Berkley during the 4th quarter valued at $870,000. Finally, Financial Strategies Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 29.6% in the 4th quarter. Financial Strategies Group Inc. now owns 53,112 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $4,126,000 after buying an additional 12,140 shares in the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.