12:39 PM EDT, 04/01/2025 (MT Newswires) -- W.R. Berkley (WRB) has been on a roll during 2025, with shares last closing just below their all-time high set during the previous session, although the commercial insurance and re-insurance firm may find it hard extending its gains much more, analysts at BofA Securities said Tuesday in a research note.

The BofA analysts, citing valuation, cut their stock rating for Berkley on Tuesday to neutral from buy while nudging the price target for the company's shares to $74 from $73 per share. The downgrade follows a 7.5% advance on Friday after W.R. Berkley disclosed plans by Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance to acquire a 15% stake in the company through open market purchases and private transactions with third parties.

Berkley finished Q1 trading at 3.0 times its estimated book value, nearly matching all-time highs reached in April 2006 and again in November 2022. As a group, property and casualty insurers are likely overvalued, the BofA analysts said, explaining they already have trimmed their ratings for most of its peers to underperform.

Berkley, however, probably enjoys some benefits its peers do not, with less exposure to casualty volatility and sufficient loss reserves, they said.

"We believe Berkley to be no more challenged from a loss trend perspective than the industry broadly, and maybe even less so," the BofA analysts said, adding Mitsui-Sumitomo's plans to buy shares on the open market should help stabilize the stock while the rest of the market rides through increased volatility.

The BofA analysts said their $74 price target for Berkley shares reflects a 30% premium to projected 2026 price-to-earnings ratio compared to its peers, growing to 10.9 times forward earnings from a 10.5 multiple previously. The stock also boasts "unique" stock-specific attributes that should keep it in front of the industry pack, they said.

Price: 70.60, Change: -0.56, Percent Change: -0.79