Bank of America Issues Pessimistic Forecast for W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) Stock Price

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) had its price objective decreased by stock analysts at Bank of America from $68.00 to $67.00 in a research note issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “neutral” rating on the insurance provider’s stock. Bank of America‘s price objective suggests a potential upside of 1.32% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other brokerages have also commented on WRB. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on W.R. Berkley from $74.00 to $66.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 1st. Evercore reissued an “underperform” rating on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research note on Monday, March 9th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on W.R. Berkley from $73.00 to $72.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $73.00 price target on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research note on Wednesday, January 7th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut their price target on W.R. Berkley from $75.00 to $70.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $68.75.

W.R. Berkley Price Performance

W.R. Berkley stock opened at $66.13 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a current ratio of 0.37. W.R. Berkley has a 52 week low of $63.67 and a 52 week high of $78.96. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 0.37. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $68.49 and a 200-day moving average of $71.02.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last issued its earnings results on Monday, January 26th. The insurance provider reported $1.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.14 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $3.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.18 billion. W.R. Berkley had a return on equity of 18.17% and a net margin of 12.10%.W.R. Berkley’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.13 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that W.R. Berkley will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at W.R. Berkley

In related news, major shareholder Sumitomo Insurance Co L. Mitsui purchased 112,176 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 3rd. The stock was bought at an average price of $72.20 per share, with a total value of $8,099,107.20. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider owned 58,780,450 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,243,948,490. This represents a 0.19% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders bought a total of 5,778,946 shares of company stock valued at $399,026,238 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 23.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On W.R. Berkley

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund boosted its position in shares of W.R. Berkley by 8.9% during the 3rd quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund now owns 202,243 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $15,496,000 after purchasing an additional 16,450 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of W.R. Berkley by 4.9% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 5,241,509 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $401,607,000 after purchasing an additional 242,546 shares in the last quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S boosted its position in shares of W.R. Berkley by 133.5% during the 3rd quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 31,520 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,415,000 after purchasing an additional 18,022 shares in the last quarter. AlphaQuest LLC bought a new position in W.R. Berkley in the third quarter worth approximately $3,762,000. Finally, Stance Capital LLC boosted its holdings in W.R. Berkley by 376.1% in the third quarter. Stance Capital LLC now owns 48,119 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $3,687,000 after acquiring an additional 38,013 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

W.R. Berkley Company Profile

W. R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE: WRB) is a publicly traded insurance holding company that underwrites and sells commercial property and casualty insurance, specialty insurance products, and reinsurance. Headquartered in Greenwich, Connecticut, the company operates a portfolio of underwriting businesses that focus on niche and specialty commercial risks, offering coverage tailored to industries such as transportation, construction, professional services and other commercial lines.

The company’s product mix includes primary and excess casualty, property, professional liability, environmental and other specialty lines, together with treaty and facultative reinsurance solutions.