Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Boosts W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) Price Target to $65.00

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) had its target price lifted by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $62.00 to $65.00 in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a "market perform" rating on the insurance provider's stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods' target price points to a potential downside of 7.25% from the stock's previous close.

Several other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on W. R. Berkley from $69.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $52.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research note on Friday, April 11th. StockNews.com cut shares of W. R. Berkley from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, April 11th. Bank of America reissued a "neutral" rating and set a $74.00 price objective (up from $73.00) on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, April 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and four have given 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 $67.64.

W. R. Berkley Price Performance

NYSE:WRB traded down $1.67 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $70.08. 83,477 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,770,244. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $65.30 and its 200 day simple moving average is $61.72. The company has a market cap of $26.58 billion, a PE ratio of 16.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.40. W. R. Berkley has a 1 year low of $50.73 and a 1 year high of $76.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.36.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.08 by ($0.07). The firm had revenue of $3.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.01 billion. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.88% and a return on equity of 20.83%. Sell-side analysts expect that W. R. Berkley will post 4.33 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On W. R. Berkley

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Avior Wealth Management LLC grew its position in W. R. Berkley by 2.0% in the 1st quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,029 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $571,000 after purchasing an additional 155 shares in the last quarter. Pullen Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Pullen Investment Management LLC now owns 22,954 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $1,343,000 after purchasing an additional 161 shares during the last quarter. CHB Investment Group LLC raised its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. CHB Investment Group LLC now owns 50,557 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $3,598,000 after purchasing an additional 172 shares during the period. Wedmont Private Capital grew its position in W. R. Berkley by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 8,038 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $456,000 after buying an additional 181 shares during the period. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its position in W. R. Berkley by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 5,289 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $310,000 after acquiring an additional 188 shares during the period. 68.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.