W.R. Berkley Corporation (WRB) To Go Ex-Dividend on September 21st

W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 21st will be given a dividend of 0.10 per share by the insurance provider on Wednesday, September 30th. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 21st.

W.R. Berkley has raised its dividend payment by an average of 0.5%annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 23 consecutive years. W.R. Berkley has a payout ratio of 8.4% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect W.R. Berkley to earn $4.82 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.40 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 8.3%.

W.R. Berkley Trading Down 0.2%

NYSE WRB opened at $69.89 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $25.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.35, a P/E/G ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 0.28. W.R. Berkley has a 52 week low of $62.87 and a 52 week high of $78.96. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $70.96 and a 200-day moving average price of $68.77. The company has a quick ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last issued its earnings results on Monday, July 20th. The insurance provider reported $1.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08 by $0.19. The company had revenue of $3.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.28 billion. W.R. Berkley had a return on equity of 19.44% and a net margin of 12.94%.W.R. Berkley’s quarterly revenue was up 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.05 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that W.R. Berkley will post 4.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WRB has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Barclays reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and issued a $62.00 price objective (down from $64.00) on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research note on Friday, June 12th. Weiss Ratings upgraded W.R. Berkley from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of W.R. Berkley in a report on Tuesday, July 21st. Oppenheimer set a $70.00 target price on W.R. Berkley in a report on Tuesday, July 21st. Finally, Mizuho increased their price target on W.R. Berkley from $72.00 to $74.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 21st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and six have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $70.94.

W.R. Berkley Company Profile

W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE: WRB) is an insurance holding company that operates through a group of property and casualty insurance businesses. The company provides commercial insurance and reinsurance products for businesses, organizations and other insurance companies, with an emphasis on specialty and complex risks.

Its offerings include commercial property and casualty coverage, excess and surplus lines, professional liability, workers’ compensation, commercial automobile insurance, marine insurance and other specialty products.