W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) Declares $0.09 Quarterly Dividend

W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, December 5th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 15th will be given a dividend of 0.09 per share by the insurance provider on Monday, December 29th. This represents a c) annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 15th.

W.R. Berkley has increased its dividend by an average of 0.1%annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 23 years. W.R. Berkley has a payout ratio of 7.5% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities 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 $0.36 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 7.6%.

W.R. Berkley Price Performance

NYSE:WRB traded down $0.07 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $69.27. The stock had a trading volume of 4,040,496 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,371,777. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.33 billion, a PE ratio of 14.55, a PEG ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 0.37. W.R. Berkley has a 52 week low of $55.97 and a 52 week high of $78.96. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $74.54 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $72.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a current ratio of 0.37.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last posted its earnings results on Monday, October 20th. The insurance provider reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.07 by $0.03. W.R. Berkley had a net margin of 13.01% and a return on equity of 18.86%. The firm had revenue of $3.77 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.16 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.93 earnings per share. W.R. Berkley’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that W.R. Berkley will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On W.R. Berkley

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of WRB. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its position in shares of W.R. Berkley by 75.6% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 50,503 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,955,000 after purchasing an additional 21,737 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in W.R. Berkley in the 1st quarter worth about $44,210,000. Public Sector Pension Investment Board lifted its holdings in W.R. Berkley by 2.7% during the 1st quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 80,244 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $5,710,000 after buying an additional 2,107 shares in the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its position in W.R. Berkley by 1.7% in the 1st quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 126,392 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $8,994,000 after buying an additional 2,170 shares during the period. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its stake in W.R. Berkley by 13.4% in the 1st quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 534,465 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $38,035,000 after acquiring an additional 63,220 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

About W.R. Berkley

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.