W. R. Berkley Co. (WRB) To Go Ex-Dividend on March 3rd

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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend 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 annually for the last 23 consecutive years. W. R. Berkley has a dividend payout ratio of 6.7% indicating that 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

W. R. Berkley stock opened at $62.77 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $23.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.38, a PEG ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.67. W. R. Berkley has a 12 month low of $50.73 and a 12 month high of $65.49. The company has a current ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $59.27 and its 200 day simple moving average is $59.31.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. StockNews.com lowered shares of W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $63.00 price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $65.00 price target for the company. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective 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. One 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 MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average 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.