Barclays Cuts W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) Price Target to $50.00

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) had its price objective dropped by equities research analysts at Barclays from $56.00 to $50.00 in a note issued to investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “underweight” rating on the insurance provider’s stock. Barclays‘s target price suggests a potential downside of 13.40% from the company’s current price.

A number of other analysts have also issued reports on the company. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on W. R. Berkley from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. StockNews.com lowered W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on shares of 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. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Truist Financial raised their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $63.82.

W. R. Berkley Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of WRB stock traded down $0.19 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $57.74. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 867,531 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,256,704. W. R. Berkley has a 52-week low of $47.59 and a 52-week high of $65.49. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $60.33 and a 200 day moving average price of $58.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.36. The stock has a market cap of $22.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.79, a PEG ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 0.67.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last announced its earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.01. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 20.41% and a net margin of 11.96%. The business had revenue of $2.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.93 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.90 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that W. R. Berkley will post 3.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of W. R. Berkley

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in WRB. MML Investors Services LLC boosted its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 49.0% in the 3rd quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 39,035 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,214,000 after buying an additional 12,830 shares during the period. GSA Capital Partners LLP bought a new position in W. R. Berkley in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $732,000. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its position in W. R. Berkley by 53.6% in the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 737,472 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $41,837,000 after acquiring an additional 257,211 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its stake in W. R. Berkley by 104.1% during the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 4,154,783 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $235,701,000 after acquiring an additional 2,118,641 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sanctuary Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in W. R. Berkley in the 2nd quarter valued at about $4,801,000. 68.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.