Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) Given Average Recommendation of “Hold” by Brokerages

Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) have earned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the nine analysts that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $293.11.

Several equities research analysts have commented on VRSK shares. Evercore ISI reaffirmed an “in-line” rating and issued a $279.00 price target on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $263.00 to $276.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $283.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Barclays lowered shares of Verisk Analytics from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $310.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 target price on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

NASDAQ:VRSK opened at $285.46 on Thursday. Verisk Analytics has a one year low of $217.34 and a one year high of $296.58. 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 firm has a market cap of $40.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.53, a PEG ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 0.88. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $281.49 and its two-hundred day moving average is $274.95.

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

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th were given a dividend of $0.39 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.55%. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.34%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Verisk Analytics news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $286.49, for a total value of $57,298.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 15,608 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,471,535.92. This represents a 1.27 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of the 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 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. Insiders sold a total of 5,490 shares of company stock worth $1,541,570 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Verisk Analytics

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of VRSK. FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 6.5% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,618,971 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,237,700,000 after buying an additional 283,653 shares during the last quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC increased its holdings in shares of 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 worth $73,144,000 after buying an additional 261,961 shares during the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP increased its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 46.7% during the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 614,831 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $164,750,000 after buying an additional 195,700 shares during the last quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 158.2% during the 3rd quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC now owns 184,806 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $49,521,000 after buying an additional 113,230 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc increased its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 7.4% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 1,618,266 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $436,204,000 after buying an additional 111,364 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

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.