Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) Sets New 1-Year High Following Analyst Upgrade

Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) hit a new 52-week high during trading on Monday after Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on the stock from $313.00 to $325.00. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Verisk Analytics traded as high as $298.25 and last traded at $297.10, with a volume of 139763 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $295.11.

Several other research analysts have also recently issued reports on VRSK. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of 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 restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $300.00 target price on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on Verisk Analytics from $285.00 to $301.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Verisk Analytics from $263.00 to $276.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Barclays lowered Verisk Analytics from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $310.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $295.33.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verisk Analytics

In related news, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.06, for a total value of $595,428.66. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 9,066 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,557,155.96. This trade represents a 18.89 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $272.81, for a total value of $321,642.99. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 13,786 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,760,958.66. The trade was a 7.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 4,469 shares of company stock valued at $1,264,818. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Verisk Analytics

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of VRSK. Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 8.1% during the 4th quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 5,210,080 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,435,012,000 after purchasing an additional 392,270 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,691,016 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,292,047,000 after purchasing an additional 72,045 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,811,563 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,051,300,000 after purchasing an additional 19,423 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter valued at about $526,676,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 9.6% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,654,826 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $455,789,000 after purchasing an additional 144,599 shares during the period. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Verisk Analytics Trading Up 1.1 %

The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $282.65 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $277.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.82. The stock has a market capitalization of $42.14 billion, a PE ratio of 46.56, a PEG ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th were issued a $0.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.52%. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio is presently 24.34%.

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.