W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) Rating Lowered to “Equal Weight” at Wells Fargo & Company

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) was downgraded by analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday,Finviz reports. They presently have a $69.00 target price on the insurance provider’s stock. Wells Fargo & Company‘s target price points to a potential upside of 5.72% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other analysts have also recently commented on WRB. StockNews.com cut W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Bank of America reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $74.00 price objective (up previously from $73.00) on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $68.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $65.05.

W. R. Berkley Price Performance

Shares of NYSE WRB opened at $65.27 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $24.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.96, a PEG ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a 50 day moving average of $63.14 and a 200 day moving average of $60.71. W. R. Berkley has a twelve month low of $50.73 and a twelve month high of $76.38. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34.

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Optiver Holding B.V. lifted its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 107.3% in the fourth quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. now owns 427 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 221 shares in the last quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in W. R. Berkley in the 4th quarter worth $35,000. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC bought a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley during the 4th quarter valued at about $37,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley during the fourth quarter valued at about $42,000. Finally, Colonial Trust Co SC increased its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 79.9% in the fourth quarter. Colonial Trust Co SC now owns 822 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $48,000 after purchasing an additional 365 shares during the last quarter. 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.