BERKLEY W R CORP (WRB) — is the dividend affordable?
Fiscal year ending 2025-12-31 · sector Financials · payout ratios computed from SEC filings, not taken from a data vendor.
| Basis | Payout | Why it differs |
|---|---|---|
| GAAP earnings | 41.6% | The figure most screeners publish. |
Only one basis is shown, and that is the point. Operating and free cash flow swing with loan, deposit and reserve movements, so for a lender or insurer neither says anything about whether the dividend is affordable. Investment income is omitted for a second reason: insurers file it under the same tag a BDC uses, but it means investment income on float rather than the money that funds the distribution. Screeners that publish these for a bank are printing arithmetic, not information — and a wide gap between them is noise, not a finding.
Coverage rating 35 / 100 — Strained. ? Peer standing 17/50Direction 10/30Stability 8/20
GAAP earnings payout, last 6 years
| Fiscal year | Payout |
|---|---|
| 2025-12-31 | 41.6% |
| 2024-12-31 | 32.1% |
| 2023-12-31 | 38.3% |
| 2022-12-31 | 17.9% |
| 2021-12-31 | 36.6% |
| 2020-12-31 | 16.6% |
Coverage worsened sharply this year, 32.1% to 41.6%, after no clear trend before it. One year is not a trend, but it is worth knowing which direction the last one moved.
Among the 48 financials companies here, 33% pay out a larger share on this basis.
The arithmetic
- GAAP earnings — dividends declared per share $1.85 ÷ diluted EPS $4.45
Where the figures came from
- 10-K filed 2026-02-27 · accession
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Every one is public at sec.gov and free to check. That is the point — you should not have to take my word for any of it.
Computed by an open pipeline reading SEC XBRL directly. If any number here looks wrong to you, tell me — that is more useful to me than agreement.