Morgan Stanley Cuts W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) Price Target to $72.00

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) had its price objective dropped by research analysts at Morgan Stanley from $73.00 to $72.00 in a research note issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “equal weight” rating on the insurance provider’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s target price indicates a potential upside of 9.39% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other analysts also recently commented on the company. Bank of America decreased their price target on W.R. Berkley from $69.00 to $66.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on W.R. Berkley from $68.00 to $66.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. Mizuho decreased their target price on W.R. Berkley from $69.00 to $67.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. Wall Street Zen cut W.R. Berkley from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Sunday, March 29th. Finally, Evercore restated an “underperform” rating on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research report on Monday, March 9th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, W.R. Berkley currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $69.19.

W.R. Berkley Stock Down 0.3%

WRB stock traded down $0.17 during trading on Monday, reaching $65.82. The stock had a trading volume of 68,333 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,290,698. The company has a quick ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The company has a market capitalization of $24.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.79, a P/E/G ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 0.37. W.R. Berkley has a one year low of $62.63 and a one year high of $78.96. The company’s 50 day moving average is $68.77 and its two-hundred day moving average is $71.43.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last posted its earnings results on Monday, January 26th. The insurance provider reported $1.13 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.14 by ($0.01). W.R. Berkley had a return on equity of 18.17% and a net margin of 12.10%.The firm had revenue of $3.18 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.18 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.13 EPS. W.R. Berkley’s quarterly revenue was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that W.R. Berkley will post 4.33 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at W.R. Berkley

In other W.R. Berkley news, major shareholder Sumitomo Insurance Co L. Mitsui acquired 112,176 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 3rd. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $72.20 per share, with a total value of $8,099,107.20. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider directly owned 58,780,450 shares in the company, valued at $4,243,948,490. This trade represents a 0.19% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In the last quarter, insiders bought 7,775,275 shares of company stock valued at $536,714,760. Insiders own 23.30% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On W.R. Berkley

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund lifted its holdings in W.R. Berkley by 8.9% during the 3rd quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund now owns 202,243 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $15,496,000 after purchasing an additional 16,450 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in W.R. Berkley by 4.9% during 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 in the last quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S increased its position in shares of W.R. Berkley by 133.5% during the third 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. American Trust purchased a new stake in shares of W.R. Berkley in the second quarter worth about $1,847,000. Finally, AlphaQuest LLC purchased a new stake in shares of W.R. Berkley in the third quarter worth about $3,762,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

About W.R. Berkley

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.