Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) Coverage Initiated by Analysts at Bank of America

Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) in a report released on Thursday. The brokerage set an “underperform” rating and a $280.00 price target on the business services provider’s stock. Bank of America‘s target price indicates a potential downside of 4.07% from the company’s current price.

VRSK has been the subject of several other research reports. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $283.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Verisk Analytics from $298.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 price target on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $297.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $297.40.

Verisk Analytics Trading Up 2.1 %

VRSK opened at $291.88 on Thursday. Verisk Analytics has a 52 week low of $217.34 and a 52 week high of $306.68. 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 business has a fifty day simple moving average of $292.30 and a 200-day simple moving average of $283.17. The firm has a market cap of $40.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.54, a P/E/G ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.88.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The business services provider reported $1.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $735.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $733.55 million. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 274.13% and a net margin of 32.65%. On average, equities analysts expect that Verisk Analytics will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Verisk Analytics declared that its board has approved a share buyback plan on Wednesday, February 26th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the business services provider to purchase up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $294.95, for a total value of $347,746.05. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 13,786 shares in the company, valued at $4,066,180.70. This represents a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.06, for a total transaction of $595,428.66. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 9,066 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,557,155.96. The trade was a 18.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 5,648 shares of company stock worth $1,628,433 in the last ninety days. 0.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Verisk Analytics

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter valued at about $526,676,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 36,332.8% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,204,468 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $358,474,000 after purchasing an additional 1,201,162 shares in the last quarter. Amundi increased its position in Verisk Analytics by 52.4% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 1,252,532 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $351,226,000 after purchasing an additional 430,719 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter worth approximately $110,094,000. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 31,634.6% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 394,461 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $108,646,000 after buying an additional 393,218 shares in the last quarter. 90.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.