Jefferies Financial Group Has Lowered Expectations for W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) Stock Price

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) had its target price dropped by equities research analysts at Jefferies Financial Group from $76.00 to $75.00 in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday, MarketBeat.com reports. The firm currently has a “hold” rating on the insurance provider’s stock. Jefferies Financial Group’s target price would indicate a potential upside of 0.09% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other research firms have also issued reports on WRB. Cantor Fitzgerald raised shares of W.R. Berkley to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 13th. TD Cowen lowered shares of W.R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $78.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Friday, June 27th. UBS Group set a $87.00 price target on shares of W.R. Berkley and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of W.R. Berkley in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of W.R. Berkley from $68.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, W.R. Berkley currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $75.67.

W.R. Berkley Stock Performance

Shares of WRB stock opened at $74.93 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $28.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.74, a PEG ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 0.42. The company’s 50 day moving average is $73.86 and its 200 day moving average is $71.96. The company has a quick ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. W.R. Berkley has a 52-week low of $55.97 and a 52-week high of $78.48.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 20th. The insurance provider reported $1.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.07 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $3.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.16 billion. W.R. Berkley had a net margin of 13.01% and a return on equity of 19.35%. W.R. Berkley’s revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.93 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that W.R. Berkley will post 4.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Czech National Bank lifted its position in W.R. Berkley by 6.3% during the second quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 73,255 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $5,382,000 after purchasing an additional 4,336 shares during the period. Federation des caisses Desjardins du Quebec lifted its position in W.R. Berkley by 70.8% during the first quarter. Federation des caisses Desjardins du Quebec now owns 17,197 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,224,000 after purchasing an additional 7,131 shares during the period. Gallacher Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in W.R. Berkley during the second quarter valued at $323,000. Sciencast Management LP acquired a new position in W.R. Berkley during the first quarter valued at $3,493,000. Finally, Strs Ohio acquired a new position in W.R. Berkley during the first quarter valued at $2,386,000. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.