W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) Given New $50.00 Price Target at Barclays

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) had its target price cut by research analysts at Barclays from $56.00 to $50.00 in a research note issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “underweight” rating on the insurance provider’s stock. Barclays‘s price target would suggest a potential downside of 13.40% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other brokerages have also recently commented on WRB. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on W. R. Berkley from $63.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Bank of America raised their target price on W. R. Berkley from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $63.82.

W. R. Berkley Stock Performance

WRB traded down $0.19 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $57.74. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 867,531 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,256,704. The company has a current ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The stock has a market cap of $22.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.79, a PEG ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $60.33 and a 200 day simple moving average of $58.16. W. R. Berkley has a twelve month low of $47.59 and a twelve month high of $65.49.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $2.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.93 billion. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 20.41% and a net margin of 11.96%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.90 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that W. R. Berkley will post 3.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. National Bank of Canada FI lifted its stake in W. R. Berkley by 6.7% in the 2nd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 113,724 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $8,980,000 after buying an additional 7,164 shares in the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 373.5% in the 2nd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 6,014 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $471,000 after buying an additional 4,744 shares during the period. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC raised its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 32.1% during the 2nd quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC now owns 3,134 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $246,000 after purchasing an additional 761 shares during the period. Prudential PLC increased its position in W. R. Berkley by 205.9% in the second quarter. Prudential PLC now owns 68,526 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $5,385,000 after buying an additional 46,125 shares during the period. Finally, Wedbush Securities Inc. grew its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 4.3% during the second quarter. Wedbush Securities Inc. now owns 9,979 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $784,000 after acquiring an additional 408 shares during the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.