Royal Bank of Canada Cuts W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) Price Target to $86.00

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) had its price target decreased by research analysts at Royal Bank of Canada from $88.00 to $86.00 in a research note issued on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “sector perform” rating on the insurance provider’s stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s target price indicates a potential upside of 9.96% from the company’s current price.

WRB has been the subject of several other reports. UBS Group raised their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $81.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $85.00 to $88.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $93.00 to $87.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $99.00 to $94.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $83.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $90.63.

W. R. Berkley Trading Down 1.1 %

NYSE:WRB traded down $0.87 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $78.21. 1,327,917 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,238,476. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $84.55 and its 200-day moving average is $76.20. W. R. Berkley has a 12-month low of $55.50 and a 12-month high of $89.18. The firm has a market capitalization of $20.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.42, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a current ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The insurance provider reported $1.56 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.46 by $0.10. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 19.03% and a net margin of 11.38%. The company had revenue of $2.76 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.77 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.00 EPS. W. R. Berkley’s quarterly revenue was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that W. R. Berkley will post 5.94 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of W. R. Berkley

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Morgan Stanley grew its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 4.2% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 13,065,224 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $829,511,000 after buying an additional 529,817 shares during the period. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 4.6% in the 3rd quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 6,819,124 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $432,946,000 after buying an additional 302,212 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,793,764 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $409,735,000 after buying an additional 154,468 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley in the 4th quarter valued at about $213,635,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,041,442 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $144,371,000 after purchasing an additional 39,594 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.