W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) Raised to “Buy” at StockNews.com

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) was upgraded by equities research analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday.

A number of other brokerages have also issued reports on WRB. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $63.00 target price on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Bank of America upped their target price on W. R. Berkley from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of W. R. Berkley from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $69.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, W. R. Berkley has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $64.36.

W. R. Berkley Trading Down 1.8 %

W. R. Berkley stock opened at $60.39 on Friday. 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 $23.01 billion, a PE ratio of 13.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 0.67. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $59.26 and a two-hundred day moving average of $59.05. W. R. Berkley has a one year low of $50.73 and a one year high of $65.49.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last released its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The insurance provider reported $1.13 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.95 by $0.18. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.88% and a return on equity of 20.83%. On average, research analysts anticipate that W. R. Berkley will post 4.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of W. R. Berkley

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of WRB. Optiver Holding B.V. lifted its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 107.3% during the 4th quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. now owns 427 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 221 shares in the last quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC purchased a new position in W. R. Berkley during the fourth quarter valued at $35,000. PFS Partners LLC grew its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 51.1% in the third quarter. PFS Partners LLC now owns 719 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 243 shares during the period. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley during the fourth quarter worth about $42,000. Finally, Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV raised its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 108.1% during the 3rd quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 801 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $45,000 after purchasing an additional 416 shares during the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is 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.