W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.10

W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB – Get Rating) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, June 15th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Monday, June 27th will be paid a dividend of 0.10 per share by the insurance provider on Thursday, July 7th. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.60%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 24th. This is a positive change from W. R. Berkley’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.09.

W. R. Berkley has increased its dividend by an average of 13.0% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 22 consecutive years. W. R. Berkley has a dividend payout ratio of 8.9% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect W. R. Berkley to earn $4.30 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 9.3%.

Shares of WRB stock opened at $66.93 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 0.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. W. R. Berkley has a twelve month low of $47.13 and a twelve month high of $72.32. The company has a market cap of $17.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.49, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 0.75. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $68.44 and a 200 day simple moving average of $62.64.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 25th. The insurance provider reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.18. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 15.77% and a net margin of 13.55%. The business had revenue of $2.25 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.26 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.72 EPS. W. R. Berkley’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that W. R. Berkley will post 3.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Several brokerages recently weighed in on WRB. StockNews.com upgraded W. R. Berkley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 28th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on W. R. Berkley from $68.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, May 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on W. R. Berkley from $63.00 to $75.00 in a report on Friday, April 8th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on W. R. Berkley from $65.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 12th. Finally, Truist Financial upped their target price on W. R. Berkley from $73.33 to $83.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 26th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $67.60.

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Cibc World Market Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley in the first quarter valued at about $254,000. Cresset Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 47.0% in the first quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC now owns 3,762 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $250,000 after buying an additional 1,202 shares during the period. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P acquired a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley in the first quarter valued at about $238,000. Toroso Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley in the first quarter valued at about $227,000. Finally, Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management increased its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 13.4% in the first quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 3,400 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $226,000 after buying an additional 402 shares during the period. 49.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

W. R. Berkley Company Profile (Get Rating)

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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