W. R. Berkley Co. (WRB) To Go Ex-Dividend on December 16th

W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, December 6th,Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th will be paid a dividend of 0.08 per share by the insurance provider on Friday, December 27th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 16th.

W. R. Berkley has increased its dividend by an average of 11.1% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 23 consecutive years. W. R. Berkley has a dividend payout ratio of 7.4% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect W. R. Berkley to earn $4.33 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 7.4%.

W. R. Berkley Stock Performance

Shares of WRB stock traded up $0.30 on Friday, reaching $60.78. The stock had a trading volume of 1,372,399 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,742,165. W. R. Berkley has a 12 month low of $45.75 and a 12 month high of $65.49. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.57, a P/E/G ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 0.65. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $60.40 and its two-hundred day moving average is $57.48.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.01. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 20.41% and a net margin of 11.96%. The business had revenue of $2.93 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.93 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.90 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that W. R. Berkley will post 3.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on WRB. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on W. R. Berkley from $59.00 to $58.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Barclays initiated coverage on W. R. Berkley in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. They issued an “underweight” rating and a $56.00 target price for the company. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $64.28.

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.