Wells Fargo & Company Increases W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) Price Target to $70.00

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) had its target price upped by analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from $69.00 to $70.00 in a note issued to investors on Tuesday, MarketBeat reports. The firm presently has an "equal weight" rating on the insurance provider's stock. Wells Fargo & Company's target price suggests a potential downside of 0.22% from the company's current price.

A number of other brokerages have also weighed in on WRB. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $64.00 to $62.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a "sector perform" rating and issued a $63.00 price target on shares of W. R. Berkley in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Bank of America reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $74.00 price target (up previously from $73.00) on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $52.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Friday, April 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, W. R. Berkley presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $67.64.

W. R. Berkley Trading Down 2.2 %

NYSE:WRB traded down $1.59 on Tuesday, reaching $70.16. The stock had a trading volume of 83,477 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,770,244. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 0.36 and a quick ratio of 0.36. The company has a market cap of $26.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.15, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.40. The firm's fifty day moving average is $65.30 and its two-hundred day moving average is $61.72. W. R. Berkley has a 12-month low of $50.73 and a 12-month high of $76.38.

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On W. R. Berkley

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Amundi raised its position in W. R. Berkley by 43.1% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 1,477,932 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $85,853,000 after buying an additional 444,986 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 211.3% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,674,171 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $208,436,000 after purchasing an additional 2,493,758 shares during the period. Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley in the fourth quarter worth $982,000. Merit Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley during the 4th quarter worth $560,000. Finally, HighPoint Advisor Group LLC raised its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 12.0% in the 4th quarter. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC now owns 4,967 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $304,000 after acquiring an additional 532 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.