W. R. Berkley Corporation · WRB · FY2024 Q4 · Calendar Q1 2025
W.R. Berkley: Strong underwriting supports confident 2025 outlook
The current analysis supports a constructive operating trajectory: strong underwriting, investment income and capital generation underpin management's confidence in continued growth, but catastrophe, inflation and reinsurance risks remain material.
Earnings scorecard
Reported versus consensusMarket reaction
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Transcript intelligence
What changed
Compared with the prior analysis, the company delivered record results, increased portfolio duration from 2.4 to 2.6 years, and reported record operating cash flow of $3.7 billion while continuing to describe its outlook as maintained.
Guidance delta
Maintained; management expressed confidence in continued growth across property, casualty and specialty lines.
Key takeaways
- Record fourth-quarter and full-year 2024 results were accompanied by a 23.6% ROE and 45% year-over-year net-income growth.
- Underwriting income exceeded $1.1 billion, with a combined ratio near 90% despite higher catastrophe losses.
- Management highlighted higher new-money investment rates, longer portfolio duration and strong operating cash flow.
- The main counterweights are social inflation, catastrophe exposure, reinsurance discipline and rising competition.
Management priorities
- Maintain disciplined underwriting and investment strategies.
- Expand Berkley One homeowners into additional markets outside California.
- Use technology and BPO to support expense discipline and efficiency.
- Grow portfolio duration and pursue attractive spread opportunities.
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Try FN2 freeEarnings History
Analyst 52W Price Targets
Latest persisted target per named analyst; persisted current price from FN2's market snapshot as of Oct 25, 2026. Not an FN2 forecast.
Firm-level rating actions
FMP grade actions identify the grading firm, not a named analyst.
| Firm | Rating | Prior rating | Action | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wells Fargo | Underweight | Underweight | Maintain | Oct 20, 2026 |
| Mizuho | Neutral | Neutral | Maintain | Oct 20, 2026 |
| Evercore ISI Group | Underperform | Underperform | Maintain | Oct 20, 2026 |
| Cantor Fitzgerald | Neutral | Neutral | Maintain | Oct 7, 2026 |
| Morgan Stanley | Equal Weight | Equal Weight | Maintain | Oct 6, 2026 |
| UBS | Neutral | Neutral | Maintain | Jul 27, 2026 |
| Truist Securities | Buy | Buy | Maintain | Jul 21, 2026 |
| B of A Securities | Underperform | Neutral | Downgrade | Jul 16, 2026 |
| Keefe, Bruyette & Woods | Market Perform | Market Perform | Maintain | Jul 8, 2026 |
| Barclays | Underweight | Underweight | Maintain | Jun 12, 2026 |
| Goldman Sachs | Buy | Neutral | Upgrade | Jun 8, 2026 |
| Argus Research | Hold | Buy | Downgrade | Apr 27, 2026 |
| BMO Capital | Market Perform | Underperform | Upgrade | Apr 23, 2026 |
| Jefferies | Hold | Hold | Maintain | Jan 27, 2026 |
| TD Cowen | Sell | Hold | Downgrade | Jan 20, 2026 |
| RBC Capital | Sector Perform | Sector Perform | Maintain | Jan 28, 2025 |
| Janney Montgomery Scott | Buy | Buy | Maintain | Nov 11, 2022 |
| Boenning & Scattergood | Outperform | Neutral | Upgrade | Sep 20, 2021 |
| Deutsche Bank | Hold | Hold | Maintain | Apr 21, 2021 |
| Credit Suisse | Outperform | Outperform | Maintain | Jan 11, 2021 |
| CFRA | Hold | Hold | Maintain | Apr 24, 2020 |
| Buckingham Research | Buy | Neutral | Upgrade | Jan 22, 2020 |
| Buckingham | Buy | Neutral | Upgrade | Jan 22, 2020 |
| Bank of America | Underperform | Neutral | Downgrade | Jun 14, 2018 |
| Sterne Agee CRT | Neutral | Neutral | Maintain | Sep 21, 2015 |
| Keefe Bruyette & Woods | Market Perform | Market Perform | Maintain | Oct 27, 2014 |
| Compass Point | Neutral | Neutral | Maintain | Oct 27, 2014 |
| Macquarie | Neutral | Neutral | Maintain | Oct 16, 2013 |
| Citigroup | Neutral | Neutral | Maintain | Oct 12, 2012 |
| BGB Securities | Hold | Buy | Downgrade | Apr 25, 2012 |
Named analyst price targets
Upside is calculated against the persisted current price $73.33. FMP does not supply a rating on these named-analyst rows.
| Firm | Analyst | 52W target | Price when posted | Upside | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mizuho Securities | Yaron Kinar | $73 | $74.11 | -0.5% | Oct 20, 2026 |
| Wells Fargo | Analyst unavailable | $65 | $71.91 | -11.4% | Oct 12, 2026 |
| Mizuho Securities | Analyst unavailable | $70 | $69.65 | -4.5% | Oct 7, 2026 |
| Morgan Stanley | Bob Huang | $70 | $70.14 | -4.5% | Oct 6, 2026 |
| UBS | Analyst unavailable | $77 | $75.61 | +5.0% | Jul 27, 2026 |
| Mizuho Securities | Analyst unavailable | $74 | $72.71 | +0.9% | Jul 21, 2026 |
| Oppenheimer | Analyst unavailable | $70 | $72.71 | -4.5% | Jul 21, 2026 |
| Atlantic Equities | Analyst unavailable | $74 | $70.68 | +0.9% | Jul 15, 2026 |
| Evercore ISI | Analyst unavailable | $68 | $72.02 | -7.3% | Jul 10, 2026 |
| Cantor Fitzgerald | Analyst unavailable | $74 | $71.28 | +0.9% | Jul 9, 2026 |
| Mizuho Securities | Yaron Kinar | $72 | $71.28 | -1.8% | Jul 9, 2026 |
| Barclays | Alex Scott | $62 | $67.54 | -15.5% | Jun 12, 2026 |
| Wells Fargo | Analyst unavailable | $58 | $68.57 | -20.9% | Jun 8, 2026 |
| UBS | Analyst unavailable | $68 | $66.64 | -7.3% | Apr 27, 2026 |
| BMO Capital | Analyst unavailable | $68 | $67.5 | -7.3% | Apr 23, 2026 |
| Cantor Fitzgerald | Ryan Tunis | $71 | $67.21 | -3.2% | Apr 9, 2026 |
| Cantor Fitzgerald | Ryan Tunis | $75 | $67.87 | +2.3% | Feb 2, 2026 |
| UBS | Analyst unavailable | $71 | $68.58 | -3.2% | Feb 2, 2026 |
| Morgan Stanley | Analyst unavailable | $73 | $67.5 | -0.5% | Jan 28, 2026 |
| Truist Financial | Analyst unavailable | $80 | $67.09 | +9.1% | Jan 27, 2026 |
| Cantor Fitzgerald | Analyst unavailable | $76 | $69.6 | +3.6% | Jan 14, 2026 |
| Mizuho Securities | Yaron Kinar | $69 | $68 | -5.9% | Jan 14, 2026 |
| Wells Fargo | Analyst unavailable | $68 | $68.71 | -7.3% | Jan 13, 2026 |
| Barclays | Alex Scott | $64 | $69.29 | -12.7% | Jan 8, 2026 |
| Goldman Sachs | Analyst unavailable | $73 | $68.49 | -0.5% | Jan 7, 2026 |
| Evercore ISI | Analyst unavailable | $69 | $69.99 | -5.9% | Jan 7, 2026 |
| Morgan Stanley | Analyst unavailable | $75 | $69.1 | +2.3% | Dec 16, 2025 |
| Mizuho Securities | Analyst unavailable | $67 | $69.1 | -8.6% | Dec 15, 2025 |
| Morgan Stanley | Analyst unavailable | $80 | $77.51 | +9.1% | Nov 17, 2025 |
| Cantor Fitzgerald | Analyst unavailable | $78 | $75.1 | +6.4% | Oct 27, 2025 |
| BMO Capital | Analyst unavailable | $64 | $75 | -12.7% | Oct 22, 2025 |
| Truist Financial | Analyst unavailable | $84 | $73.48 | +14.6% | Oct 21, 2025 |
| Wells Fargo | Elyse Greenspan | $66 | $73.48 | -10.0% | Oct 21, 2025 |
| Jefferies | Andrew Andersen | $75 | $73.48 | +2.3% | Oct 21, 2025 |
| UBS | Analyst unavailable | $87 | $77.77 | +18.6% | Oct 8, 2025 |
| Barclays | Analyst unavailable | $73 | $77.77 | -0.5% | Oct 8, 2025 |
| Cantor Fitzgerald | Ryan Tunis | $82 | $70.01 | +11.8% | Aug 12, 2025 |
| Wells Fargo | Elyse Greenspan | $70 | $70.85 | -4.5% | Apr 22, 2025 |
| Goldman Sachs | Robert Cox | $69 | $62.27 | -5.9% | Nov 25, 2024 |
| CFRA | Catherine Seifert | $67 | $59.13 | -8.6% | Oct 23, 2024 |
| UBS | Brian Meredith | $69 | $58.53 | -5.9% | Oct 22, 2024 |
| Bank of America Securities | Joshua Shanker | $76 | $61.03 | +3.6% | Oct 22, 2024 |
| RBC Capital | Scott Heleniak | $63 | $61.03 | -14.1% | Oct 22, 2024 |
| Goldman Sachs | Alex Scott | $61 | $61.03 | -16.8% | Oct 22, 2024 |
| Evercore ISI | David Motemaden | $60 | $61.03 | -18.2% | Oct 22, 2024 |
| Truist Financial | Mark Hughes | $68 | $59.28 | -7.3% | Oct 17, 2024 |
| Jefferies | Yaron Kinar | $57 | $57.47 | -22.3% | Oct 9, 2024 |
| Barclays | Alex Scott | $56 | $60.58 | -23.6% | Sep 4, 2024 |
| Wells Fargo | Elyse Greenspan | $59 | $51.82 | -19.5% | Jul 23, 2024 |
| Goldman Sachs | Alex Scott | $83 | $78.17 | +13.2% | Jun 13, 2024 |
| BMO Capital | Michael Zaremski | $89 | $78.04 | +21.4% | Apr 25, 2024 |
| RBC Capital | Scott Heleniak | $88 | $86.61 | +20.0% | Apr 5, 2024 |
| Morgan Stanley | Analyst unavailable | $68 | $67.7 | -7.3% | Apr 27, 2022 |
| Morgan Stanley | Analyst unavailable | $67 | $66.69 | -8.6% | Apr 25, 2022 |
| Morgan Stanley | Analyst unavailable | $44.67 | $71.05 | -39.1% | Apr 21, 2022 |
| UBS | Brian Meredith | $40.93 | $21.72 | -44.2% | Jul 26, 2021 |
| Deutsche Bank | Phil Stefano | $53.36 | $34.88 | -27.2% | Apr 21, 2021 |
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Start freeCompany context
Snapshot as of publicationW. R. Berkley Corporation functions as an insurance holding company, primarily underwriting commercial policies across the United States and globally. Its extensive operations are divided into two principal divisions: Insurance, and Reinsurance & Monoline Excess. The Insurance segment delivers a wide spectrum of commercial insurance solutions. This includes foundational coverages such as general liability, property, commercial auto, and professional liability, alongside specialized offerings like workers' compensation, environmental policies for diverse businesses, directors and officers (D&O) liability, cyber risk protection, and niche policies for fine arts and jewelry.…
Historical context
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Sources
- Earnings call transcript and parsed analysis · 2026-05-11T10:29:34.698584+00:00
- FN2 earnings calendar · 2025-01-13T00:03:16.499918+00:00
- Polygon adjusted daily market bars · 2026-10-25T07:50:42.326973+00:00
- Financial Modeling Prep analyst price-target consensus and quote snapshot · 2026-10-25T07:50:42.324051+00:00
Methodology
Reported and consensus figures come from FN2's earnings event records. Market reaction and volume are calculated from daily adjusted bars around the event; abnormal move subtracts the SPY move over the same window.
Analyst target low, average, and high values are derived at request time from each named analyst's latest persisted FMP target. The current-price marker comes from FN2's persisted market snapshot. They are sell-side estimates, not an FN2 valuation or recommendation.
Transcript intelligence is a structured synthesis of the current and prior earnings-call analyses. Missing values stay missing and are never estimated.
By FN2 Research · Updated · As of 2026-10-25. For educational purposes only; not investment advice.