Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Issues Positive Forecast for W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) Stock Price

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) had its target price lifted by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $65.00 to $75.00 in a research note issued to investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “market perform” rating on the insurance provider’s stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods’ price target points to a potential upside of 1.65% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other research analysts have also recently weighed in on WRB. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, April 11th. Barclays boosted their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $52.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 11th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $63.00 price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. UBS Group increased their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $73.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on W. R. Berkley from $63.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $70.06.

W. R. Berkley Price Performance

Shares of WRB traded up $0.50 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $73.78. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 364,061 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,762,681. W. R. Berkley has a 1-year low of $51.17 and a 1-year high of $76.38. The firm has a market capitalization of $27.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.90, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.44. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $68.49 and a 200 day simple moving average of $63.23. The company has a current ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.08 by ($0.07). The company had revenue of $3.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.01 billion. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 20.83% and a net margin of 12.88%. Analysts predict that W. R. Berkley will post 4.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On W. R. Berkley

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley during the fourth quarter worth $272,582,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 55.1% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 7,366,424 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $417,897,000 after buying an additional 2,616,227 shares during the period. Madison Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley during the fourth quarter worth $98,446,000. Bank of America Corp DE increased its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 121.1% during the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 2,949,573 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $172,609,000 after buying an additional 1,615,565 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley during the fourth quarter worth $89,691,000. Institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

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.