W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.11
W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB – Get Free Report) announced a quarterly dividend on Friday, December 8th, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 18th will be given a dividend of 0.11 per share by the insurance provider on Wednesday, December 27th. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.62%.
W. R. Berkley has raised its dividend by an average of 10.5% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 22 years. W. R. Berkley has a dividend payout ratio of 7.6% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect W. R. Berkley to earn $5.77 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.44 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 7.6%.
W. R. Berkley Stock Up 0.6 %
Shares of NYSE WRB traded up $0.43 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $71.33. The company had a trading volume of 875,758 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,404,842. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $67.58 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $63.08. W. R. Berkley has a 52-week low of $55.50 and a 52-week high of $75.53. The stock has a market cap of $18.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.28, a PEG ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a current ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41.
W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB – Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 23rd. The insurance provider reported $1.35 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.18 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $2.64 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.67 billion. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 18.52% and a net margin of 11.45%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.01 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that W. R. Berkley will post 4.8 earnings per share for the current year.
Institutional Trading of W. R. Berkley
A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. AMI Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in W. R. Berkley by 47.6% during the first quarter. AMI Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,609 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $307,000 after buying an additional 1,487 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 73.3% in the 1st quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 18,008 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,199,000 after purchasing an additional 7,615 shares during the last quarter. US Bancorp DE raised its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 120.9% in the 1st quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 12,086 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $804,000 after purchasing an additional 6,614 shares in the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in W. R. Berkley by 55.9% during the first quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 11,874 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $791,000 after purchasing an additional 4,260 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Advisor Networks LLC acquired a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley in the 1st quarter worth $200,000. 66.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
Several analysts recently issued reports on WRB shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods downgraded W. R. Berkley from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and increased their price target for the company from $69.00 to $80.00 in a report on Wednesday. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a report on Thursday, October 5th. They issued a “buy” rating on the stock. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $72.00 target price on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research report on Tuesday, October 24th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $75.57.
View Our Latest Research Report on WRB
About W. R. Berkley (Get Free Report)
W. R. Berkley Corporation, an insurance holding company, operates as a commercial lines writer in the United States and internationally. It operates in two segments, Insurance and Reinsurance & Monoline Excess. The Insurance segment underwrites commercial insurance business, including premises operations, commercial automobile, property, products liability, and general and professional liability lines.
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Original: MarketBeat News Feed: W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.11