W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) Stock Gets Price Target Reduction from Cantor Fitzgerald

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) had its price objective dropped by equities researchers at Cantor Fitzgerald from $74.00 to $71.00 in a report released on Monday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “neutral” rating on the insurance provider’s stock. Cantor Fitzgerald‘s price objective indicates a potential downside of 3.22% from the company’s previous close.

Several other analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company restated an “underweight” rating and set a $68.00 price objective (up from $65.00) on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research note on Tuesday, October 20th. Morgan Stanley set a $70.00 price target on W.R. Berkley and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 6th. Atlantic Securities set a $74.00 price target on W.R. Berkley in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated a “market perform” rating on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research note on Tuesday, July 21st. Finally, Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of W.R. Berkley from $70.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 20th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and six have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $70.44.

W.R. Berkley Trading Up 0.0%

Shares of WRB stock opened at $73.36 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. W.R. Berkley has a fifty-two week low of $62.87 and a fifty-two week high of $78.96. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $70.15 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $69.35. The stock has a market cap of $27.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 0.27.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last issued its earnings results on Monday, October 19th. The insurance provider reported $1.17 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.15 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $3.74 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.82 billion. W.R. Berkley had a return on equity of 19.63% and a net margin of 12.53%. The company’s revenue was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.10 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that W.R. Berkley will post 4.92 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of W.R. Berkley

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its position in W.R. Berkley by 10.5% during the first quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 3,972,929 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $263,326,000 after purchasing an additional 377,742 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in W.R. Berkley by 3.6% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,768,180 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $249,757,000 after acquiring an additional 129,801 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE grew its holdings in W.R. Berkley by 23.4% in the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 2,904,522 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $192,512,000 after buying an additional 550,560 shares during the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC increased its position in W.R. Berkley by 104.1% during the fourth quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 1,735,958 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $121,934,000 after acquiring an additional 885,417 shares during the period. Finally, Madison Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of W.R. Berkley in the second quarter valued at about $105,639,000. 68.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About W.R. Berkley

W.R. Berkley Corporation is an insurance holding company that operates through a group of specialized insurance businesses. The company primarily provides commercial property and casualty insurance, serving businesses, organizations and other commercial customers with coverage tailored to specific industries and risks.

Its products and services include workers’ compensation, commercial automobile, property, general liability, professional liability, directors and officers liability, excess and surplus lines, and other specialty insurance products.