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

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

W. R. Berkley has increased its dividend by an average of 11.4% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 23 years. W. R. Berkley has a payout ratio of 6.7% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities 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 Stock Up 2.2 %

NYSE WRB traded up $1.37 during trading on Monday, reaching $62.34. 2,573,755 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,936,443. W. R. Berkley has a 1 year low of $50.73 and a 1 year high of $65.49. The stock has a market cap of $23.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.36. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $59.22 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $59.27.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The insurance provider reported $1.13 earnings per share (EPS) 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%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that W. R. Berkley will post 4.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group raised W. R. Berkley from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $69.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Monday, November 25th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $63.00 target price on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Morgan Stanley began coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $65.00 price target for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company 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.