W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) Announces $0.08 Quarterly Dividend

W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) declared a quarterly dividend on Monday, February 24th, Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be paid a dividend of 0.08 per share by the insurance provider on Wednesday, March 12th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd.

W. R. Berkley has increased its dividend payment by an average of 11.4% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 23 years. W. R. Berkley has a dividend payout ratio of 6.7% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect W. R. Berkley to earn $4.71 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.32 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 6.8%.

W. R. Berkley Price Performance

Shares of WRB traded up $1.37 on Monday, reaching $62.34. The stock had a trading volume of 2,573,755 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,936,443. W. R. Berkley has a twelve month low of $50.73 and a twelve month high of $65.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.75 billion, a PE ratio of 14.29, a PEG ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.67. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $59.22 and a 200 day moving average of $59.27. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The insurance provider reported $1.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.95 by $0.18. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 20.83% and a net margin of 12.88%. Sell-side analysts expect that W. R. Berkley will post 4.33 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently weighed in on WRB shares. StockNews.com downgraded shares of W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday. Morgan Stanley began coverage on W. R. Berkley in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $65.00 price objective on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $63.00 price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded W. R. Berkley from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $69.00 target price for the company in a research note on Monday, November 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, W. R. Berkley currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $64.36.

W. R. Berkley Company Profile

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.