Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) Hits New 52-Week High – Should You Buy?

Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)’s stock price reached a new 52-week high on Monday . The company traded as high as $291.66 and last traded at $291.49, with a volume of 2553 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $290.73.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VRSK has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $268.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Evercore ISI reaffirmed an “in-line” rating and issued a $279.00 target price on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $282.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $285.00 to $301.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Verisk Analytics to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Verisk Analytics presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $285.80.

Verisk Analytics Stock Up 1.1 %

The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36. The firm has a market cap of $41.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.98, a PEG ratio of 3.65 and a beta of 0.86. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $273.66 and its 200-day simple moving average is $269.24.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $1.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $725.30 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $722.19 million. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 32.65% and a return on equity of 274.13%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.52 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a $0.39 dividend. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.34%.

Insider Transactions at Verisk Analytics

In other news, CEO Lee Shavel sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $286.49, for a total value of $286,490.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 54,163 shares in the company, valued at $15,517,157.87. This represents a 1.81 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $286.49, for a total transaction of $57,298.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 15,608 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,471,535.92. This represents a 1.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 2,400 shares of company stock worth $678,764 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Verisk Analytics

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Marshall Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Marshall Financial Group LLC now owns 4,932 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,322,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC increased its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 2,586 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $693,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Brookstone Capital Management increased its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 3,517 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $982,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 19.0% in the 1st quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 263 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $57,000 after acquiring an additional 42 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ascent Group LLC grew its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 2,465 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $664,000 after buying an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. 90.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Verisk Analytics Company Profile

Verisk Analytics, Inc provides data analytics and technology solutions to the insurance markets in the United States and internationally. It offers policy language, prospective loss costs, policy writing and rating rules, and various underwriting solutions for risk selection and segmentation, pricing, and workflow optimization; property- and auto- specific rating and underwriting information solutions that allows clients to understand, quantify, underwrite, mitigate, and avoid potential loss for risks; catastrophe modeling solutions, which enables companies to identify, quantify, and plan for the financial consequences of catastrophes for use by insurers, reinsurers, intermediaries, financial institutions, and governments.