W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) Cut to “Strong Sell” at Wolfe Research

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) was downgraded by research analysts at Wolfe Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report issued on Wednesday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other equities analysts have also weighed in on the stock. Argus lowered shares of W.R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of W.R. Berkley from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 20th. UBS Group set a $68.00 price objective on W.R. Berkley and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. Brean Capital cut shares of W.R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $73.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, March 25th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised W.R. Berkley from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $64.00 to $68.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and five have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $68.31.

W.R. Berkley Stock Up 0.2%

Shares of NYSE:WRB opened at $70.66 on Wednesday. W.R. Berkley has a 52-week low of $62.87 and a 52-week high of $78.96. The stock has a market cap of $26.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.97, a PEG ratio of 3.33 and a beta of 0.29. The business has a fifty day moving average of $67.30 and a two-hundred day moving average of $68.18. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.13 by $0.17. W.R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.64% and a return on equity of 18.92%. The firm had revenue of $3.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.18 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.01 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 1.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that W.R. Berkley will post 4.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On W.R. Berkley

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Johnson Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of W.R. Berkley by 22.3% in the 3rd quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. now owns 756 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $58,000 after purchasing an additional 138 shares during the last quarter. Inspire Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Inspire Advisors LLC now owns 14,364 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,007,000 after acquiring an additional 144 shares during the period. Allworth Financial LP grew its position in W.R. Berkley by 4.8% during the 3rd quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 3,328 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $255,000 after purchasing an additional 153 shares during the last quarter. Coastal Bridge Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Coastal Bridge Advisors LLC now owns 10,277 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $721,000 after buying an additional 154 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Accurate Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley by 5.2% in the fourth quarter. Accurate Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,173 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $217,000 after purchasing an additional 157 shares during the period. 68.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

W.R. Berkley Company Profile

W. R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE: WRB) is a publicly traded insurance holding company that underwrites and sells commercial property and casualty insurance, specialty insurance products, and reinsurance. Headquartered in Greenwich, Connecticut, the company operates a portfolio of underwriting businesses that focus on niche and specialty commercial risks, offering coverage tailored to industries such as transportation, construction, professional services and other commercial lines.

The company’s product mix includes primary and excess casualty, property, professional liability, environmental and other specialty lines, together with treaty and facultative reinsurance solutions.