Analysts Set Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) PT at $289.80

Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) have earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the ten ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $289.80.

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on VRSK. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Verisk Analytics from $283.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $268.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $275.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $263.00 to $276.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $285.00 to $301.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st.

Verisk Analytics Stock Up 1.1 %

Verisk Analytics stock opened at $276.28 on Friday. Verisk Analytics has a 12-month low of $217.34 and a 12-month high of $296.58. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36. The company has a market capitalization of $39.01 billion, a PE ratio of 43.10, a PEG ratio of 3.55 and a beta of 0.87. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $282.15 and its 200 day moving average is $274.38.

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

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th were given a $0.39 dividend. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.34%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verisk Analytics

In related news, CEO Lee Shavel sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.71, for a total transaction of $280,710.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 53,163 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,923,385.73. This trade represents a 1.85 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 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 transaction of $57,298.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 15,608 shares in the company, valued at $4,471,535.92. The trade was a 1.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 2,400 shares of company stock valued at $678,764 in the last quarter. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of VRSK. FMR LLC increased its stake in Verisk Analytics by 6.5% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,618,971 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,237,700,000 after purchasing an additional 283,653 shares during the period. Mizuho Securities USA LLC boosted its position in Verisk Analytics by 2,380.6% during the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 272,965 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $73,144,000 after buying an additional 261,961 shares during the period. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. grew its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 60.4% in the 2nd quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 541,426 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $145,941,000 after acquiring an additional 203,951 shares during the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP increased its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 46.7% in the third quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 614,831 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $164,750,000 after acquiring an additional 195,700 shares during the period. Finally, Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 158.2% during the third quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC now owns 184,806 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $49,521,000 after acquiring an additional 113,230 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

About Verisk Analytics

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.