W. R. Berkley: Solid Underwriting but Slowing Growth and Limited Upside Justify Neutral (Hold) Rating

Analyst Joshua Shanker of Bank of America Securities reiterated a Hold rating on W. R. Berkley Corporation, reducing the price target to $66.00.

Joshua Shanker has given his Hold rating due to a combination of factors related to growth, profitability, and valuation. While W. R. Berkley’s fourth-quarter earnings essentially matched market expectations, the company’s premium expansion significantly lagged his projections, especially in the Insurance segment where growth slowed sharply and workers’ compensation volumes declined. Management’s decision to allocate excess capital toward share repurchases rather than aggressively pursuing new business underscores a strategic tilt toward capital return and profit protection instead of top-line expansion. At the same time, underwriting performance remains solid, with core loss ratios broadly stable and profitability still at healthy levels, even though some pressure is emerging in the reinsurance book and is expected to build further in 2026.

Shanker also trimmed his longer-term earnings forecasts, chiefly because he anticipates weaker premium growth going forward. This led him to cut his price objective to $66, which now sits slightly below the current share price and implies minimal total return once dividends are included. Given this limited upside relative to his valuation framework and the prospect of moderating growth offsetting otherwise sound underwriting, he concludes that the stock does not offer a compelling risk-reward skew at present. As a result, he maintains a Neutral (Hold) stance rather than recommending investors add or reduce positions meaningfully.

In another report released today, TipRanks – DeepSeek also reiterated a Hold rating on the stock with a $73.00 price target.