Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) Receives $252.00 Average Price Target from Analysts

Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) has been given a consensus rating of “Hold” by the fourteen analysts that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and six have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $252.00.

Several analysts recently issued reports on VRSK shares. Evercore ISI reissued an “in-line” rating and issued a $250.00 price target on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Bank of America lowered shares of Verisk Analytics from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $270.00 to $260.00 in a research report on Monday, January 8th.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

Shares of VRSK opened at $222.79 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.85, a current ratio of 1.05 and a quick ratio of 1.05. Verisk Analytics has a 12-month low of $187.86 and a 12-month high of $251.98. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $233.33 and its 200 day moving average price is $236.73. The stock has a market capitalization of $31.80 billion, a PE ratio of 52.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.78.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The business services provider reported $1.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.44 by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $677.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $673.56 million. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 305.15% and a net margin of 22.92%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.43 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Verisk Analytics will post 6.48 EPS for the current year.

Verisk Analytics declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, February 21st that permits the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the business services provider to reacquire up to 2.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a dividend of $0.39 per share. This is a positive change from Verisk Analytics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.70%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.05%.

Insider Activity

In other Verisk Analytics news, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 1,507 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.25, for a total value of $375,619.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 50,208 shares in the company, valued at $12,514,344. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 1,507 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.25, for a total value of $375,619.75. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 50,208 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,514,344. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 227 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $237.61, for a total value of $53,937.47. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 7,796 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,852,407.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 11,300 shares of company stock valued at $2,647,952 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Verisk Analytics

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter worth approximately $374,530,000. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in Verisk Analytics by 90.5% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,141,516 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $272,663,000 after purchasing an additional 542,432 shares during the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc grew its stake in Verisk Analytics by 45.8% in the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 1,342,721 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $320,722,000 after purchasing an additional 422,002 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its position in Verisk Analytics by 5.5% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 7,523,191 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,777,279,000 after purchasing an additional 392,945 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 21.4% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,195,471 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $282,418,000 after purchasing an additional 211,032 shares in the last quarter. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.