UBS Group Reaffirms “Neutral” Rating for W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB)

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB)‘s stock had its “neutral” rating reissued by investment analysts at UBS Group in a report released on Friday, Marketbeat.com reports. They currently have a $87.00 price target on the insurance provider’s stock. UBS Group’s price target would indicate a potential upside of 16.10% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other research analysts have also weighed in on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on shares of W.R. Berkley from $76.00 to $75.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. Wells Fargo & Company set a $66.00 price target on W.R. Berkley and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. BMO Capital Markets cut W.R. Berkley from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $64.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, October 22nd. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on W.R. Berkley in a report on Monday, September 15th. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of W.R. Berkley in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, W.R. Berkley currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $74.46.

W.R. Berkley Trading Up 0.5%

Shares of WRB opened at $74.94 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $74.34 and a 200 day moving average price of $72.52. W.R. Berkley has a one year low of $55.97 and a one year high of $78.48. The company has a market capitalization of $28.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.74, a P/E/G ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a current ratio of 0.37.

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley by 0.6% in the 2nd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 737,183 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $54,161,000 after acquiring an additional 4,423 shares during the last quarter. Czech National Bank boosted its position in shares of W.R. Berkley by 6.3% in the 2nd 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 boosted its position in shares of W.R. Berkley by 70.8% in the 1st 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. Atria Investments Inc increased its stake in W.R. Berkley by 3.9% in the 2nd quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 100,631 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $7,393,000 after purchasing an additional 3,750 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Gallacher Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in W.R. Berkley during the 2nd quarter worth about $323,000. 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.