W. R. Berkley Co. (WRB) To Go Ex-Dividend on September 23rd

W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, September 11th, Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 23rd will be given a dividend of 0.08 per share by the insurance provider on Monday, September 30th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.56%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 23rd.

W. R. Berkley has increased its dividend by an average of 11.1% 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 7.4% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect W. R. Berkley to earn $4.26 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 7.5%.

W. R. Berkley Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of W. R. Berkley stock opened at $57.45 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. W. R. Berkley has a 1 year low of $41.37 and a 1 year high of $61.28. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $56.76 and a 200 day moving average price of $73.16. The company has a market cap of $22.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.28, a P/E/G ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 0.62.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 22nd. The insurance provider reported $1.04 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $3.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.84 billion. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.05% and a return on equity of 21.34%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.14 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that W. R. Berkley will post 4.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on WRB shares. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded shares of W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $88.00 to $83.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 13th. Barclays initiated coverage on W. R. Berkley in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. They set an “underweight” rating and a $56.00 price target for the company. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $57.00 price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $62.00 to $59.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, Truist Financial increased their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $62.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $77.70.

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.