Jefferies Financial Group Increases W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) Price Target to $57.00

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) had its price objective upped by analysts at Jefferies Financial Group from $53.00 to $57.00 in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “hold” rating on the insurance provider’s stock. Jefferies Financial Group’s price target would suggest a potential downside of 1.91% from the stock’s current price.

Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Truist Financial raised their target price on W. R. Berkley from $62.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $62.00 to $59.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group cut W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $58.67 to $55.33 in a research report on Thursday, June 13th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $57.00 price target on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, StockNews.com cut W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $60.89.

W. R. Berkley Stock Up 0.2 %

WRB opened at $58.11 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $22.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.45, a P/E/G ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 0.62. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $57.69 and its 200-day moving average price is $55.50. The company has a current ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. W. R. Berkley has a 12 month low of $41.82 and a 12 month high of $61.28.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 22nd. The insurance provider reported $1.04 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $3.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.84 billion. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 21.34% and a net margin of 12.05%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.14 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that W. R. Berkley will post 4.03 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On W. R. Berkley

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in WRB. Sanctuary Advisors LLC bought a new position in W. R. Berkley during the 2nd quarter worth about $4,801,000. Prudential PLC lifted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 205.9% during the 2nd quarter. Prudential PLC now owns 68,526 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $5,385,000 after purchasing an additional 46,125 shares during the last quarter. Stoneridge Investment Partners LLC bought a new position in W. R. Berkley in the second quarter worth about $3,245,000. ProShare Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 25.6% in the 2nd quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 49,310 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $3,875,000 after buying an additional 10,053 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its position in W. R. Berkley by 47.2% during the second quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 174,543 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $13,716,000 after acquiring an additional 55,942 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.