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

W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) announced 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd.

W. R. Berkley has raised its dividend payment by an average of 11.4% per year over the last three years and has raised 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. 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 Price Performance

NYSE:WRB opened at $62.77 on Wednesday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $59.27 and its 200 day moving average is $59.31. W. R. Berkley has a 12 month low of $50.73 and a 12 month high of $65.49. The company has a market capitalization of $23.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.38, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a current ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 27th. The insurance provider reported $1.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 forecast that W. R. Berkley will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on WRB. Barclays boosted their target price on W. R. Berkley from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on W. R. Berkley from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. StockNews.com cut W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday. Finally, Morgan Stanley began coverage on W. R. Berkley in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $65.00 target price for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target 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.