Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) Given Consensus Rating of “Hold” by Analysts

Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the ten analysts that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $297.40.

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Thursday. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $280.00 target price for the company. Barclays cut Verisk Analytics from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $310.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $298.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 target price on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 27th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Verisk Analytics news, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $285.86, for a total value of $337,028.94. Following the sale, the director now owns 13,786 shares in the company, valued at $3,940,865.96. The trade was a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The sale 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 firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.06, for a total value of $595,428.66. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 9,066 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,557,155.96. The trade was a 18.89 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 5,648 shares of company stock valued at $1,628,433. Corporate insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its position in Verisk Analytics by 8.1% during the fourth 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 increased its position 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 last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in 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 buying an additional 19,423 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter worth $526,676,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in Verisk Analytics by 9.6% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,654,826 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $455,789,000 after buying an additional 144,599 shares during the period. 90.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Verisk Analytics Trading Up 2.1 %

NASDAQ:VRSK opened at $291.88 on Tuesday. Verisk Analytics has a 52 week low of $217.34 and a 52 week high of $306.68. The stock has a market cap of $40.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.54, a PEG ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.88. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $292.30 and its 200-day moving average price is $283.17. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The business services provider reported $1.61 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $735.60 million during 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 research analysts forecast that Verisk Analytics will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 26th that allows the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the business services provider to reacquire up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a $0.45 dividend. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.62%. This is an increase from Verisk Analytics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. Verisk Analytics’s payout ratio is presently 26.87%.

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.