W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Key Points

• Wall Street Zen upgraded W.R. Berkley from a "sell" to a "hold"; MarketBeat shows a consensus Hold rating with an average price target of $68.88 and an analyst split of 3 Buy / 12 Hold / 3 Sell.
• The company beat expectations for the quarter with EPS of $1.30 versus $1.13 expected and revenue of $3.69B (vs. $3.18B), reporting a 12.64% net margin and 18.99% return on equity.
• Major shareholder Sumitomo purchased 370,000 shares in January and insiders bought over 4.15M shares (~$289M) in the past three months, resulting in 23.3% insider ownership while institutional investors hold 68.82%.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) was upgraded by stock analysts at Wall Street Zen from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report released on Saturday.

Other research analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of W.R. Berkley from $73.00 to $72.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 6th. Brean Capital downgraded shares of W.R. Berkley from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $73.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, March 25th. Truist Financial decreased their price objective on shares of W.R. Berkley from $80.00 to $78.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of W.R. Berkley from $66.00 to $64.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on shares of W.R. Berkley from $62.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, W.R. Berkley has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $68.88.

W.R. Berkley Trading Down 2.9%

Shares of W.R. Berkley stock opened at $66.48 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $67.96 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $70.59. The company has a market cap of $24.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.29 and a beta of 0.37. W.R. Berkley has a fifty-two week low of $63.67 and a fifty-two week high of $78.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a current ratio of 0.37.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.30 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.13 by $0.17. The business had revenue of $3.69 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.18 billion. W.R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.64% and a return on equity of 18.99%. The company's revenue was up 1.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.01 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that W.R. Berkley will post 4.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at W.R. Berkley

In related news, major shareholder Sumitomo Insurance Co L. Mitsui purchased 370,000 shares of W.R. Berkley stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 26th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $67.07 per share, for a total transaction of $24,815,900.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 54,959,504 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,686,133,933.28. This trade represents a 0.68% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In the last three months, insiders have bought 4,150,946 shares of company stock worth $289,060,858. 23.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund grew its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley by 8.9% in the 3rd quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund now owns 202,243 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $15,496,000 after buying an additional 16,450 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley by 4.9% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 5,241,509 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $401,607,000 after buying an additional 242,546 shares during the period. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S grew its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley by 133.5% in the 3rd quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 31,520 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $2,415,000 after buying an additional 18,022 shares during the period. AlphaQuest LLC purchased a new stake in shares of W.R. Berkley in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $3,762,000. Finally, Stance Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley by 376.1% in the 3rd quarter. Stance Capital LLC now owns 48,119 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $3,687,000 after buying an additional 38,013 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.82% of the company's stock.

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.

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