W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) Given New $66.00 Price Target at Jefferies Financial Group

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) had its price objective boosted by investment analysts at Jefferies Financial Group from $57.00 to $66.00 in a research report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “hold” rating on the insurance provider’s stock. Jefferies Financial Group’s price objective indicates a potential downside of 3.32% from the company’s current price.

A number of other analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Bank of America reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $74.00 price target (up previously from $73.00) on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Barclays raised their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered W. R. Berkley from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $70.00 to $69.00 in a research note on Wednesday. Truist Financial lifted their target price on W. R. Berkley from $68.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on W. R. Berkley from $64.00 to $62.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $65.82.

W. R. Berkley Stock Up 1.7 %

Shares of W. R. Berkley stock traded up $1.16 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $68.27. 1,160,121 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,800,106. The company has a current ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The company has a 50 day moving average of $63.61 and a two-hundred day moving average of $60.89. The stock has a market cap of $25.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.65, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.40. W. R. Berkley has a fifty-two week low of $50.73 and a fifty-two week high of $76.38.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The insurance provider reported $1.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.95 by $0.18. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 20.83% and a net margin of 12.88%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that W. R. Berkley will post 4.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On W. R. Berkley

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WRB. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 36,436,473 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,132,262,000 after purchasing an additional 529,294 shares in the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC grew its stake in W. R. Berkley by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 11,722,476 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $685,999,000 after buying an additional 116,957 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,694,703 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $449,168,000 after buying an additional 103,350 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 55.1% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 7,366,424 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $417,897,000 after buying an additional 2,616,227 shares in the last quarter. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 15.2% during the 4th quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 4,787,361 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $280,156,000 after acquiring an additional 632,578 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

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.