Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) Receives $299.33 Consensus PT from Analysts

Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the nine research firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $299.33.

Several analysts have recently issued reports on VRSK shares. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $297.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $298.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Barclays downgraded shares of 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. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Verisk Analytics from $283.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th.

Verisk Analytics Stock Down 0.3 %

NASDAQ:VRSK opened at $288.58 on Friday. Verisk Analytics has a 52 week low of $217.34 and a 52 week high of $306.10. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $287.95 and its two-hundred day moving average is $280.27. The stock has a market capitalization of $40.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89. 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 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. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 274.13% and a net margin of 32.65%. The firm had revenue of $735.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $733.55 million. Research analysts anticipate that Verisk Analytics will post 6.63 EPS for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.45 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.62%. This is an increase from Verisk Analytics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. Verisk Analytics’s payout ratio is presently 26.87%.

Verisk Analytics announced that its board has authorized a share buyback plan on Wednesday, February 26th that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the business services provider to purchase up to 2.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Verisk Analytics news, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 directly owns 9,066 shares in the company, valued at $2,557,155.96. This represents a 18.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $272.81, for a total transaction of $321,642.99. Following the sale, the director now owns 13,786 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,760,958.66. This represents a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 5,648 shares of company stock valued at $1,613,047 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ purchased a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter worth about $12,985,000. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter valued at about $33,981,000. Capital A Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter worth approximately $96,000. Shufro Rose & Co. LLC acquired a new position in Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter worth approximately $3,044,000. Finally, Integrated Advisors Network LLC lifted its stake in Verisk Analytics by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. Integrated Advisors Network LLC now owns 1,623 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $447,000 after buying an additional 63 shares during the last quarter. 90.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.