Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) have received an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the ten brokerages that are covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $289.80.

A number of brokerages have issued reports on VRSK. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $268.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $275.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Evercore ISI reissued an “in-line” rating and set a $279.00 price target on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on Verisk Analytics from $285.00 to $301.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Verisk Analytics from $283.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verisk Analytics

In other Verisk Analytics news, CEO Lee Shavel sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $286.49, for a total value of $286,490.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 54,163 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,517,157.87. This represents a 1.81 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $271.33, for a total value of $54,266.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 15,808 shares in the company, valued at $4,289,184.64. This represents a 1.25 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 2,400 shares of company stock valued at $678,764. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Verisk Analytics

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of VRSK. Marshall Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 0.8% in the third quarter. Marshall Financial Group LLC now owns 4,932 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,322,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the period. Signaturefd LLC boosted its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 2,586 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $693,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the period. Ascent Group LLC grew its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 1.8% during the second quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 2,465 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $664,000 after buying an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC grew its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 0.8% during the third quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 5,109 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,369,000 after buying an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI increased its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 2.2% during the third quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 2,025 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $543,000 after buying an additional 43 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Verisk Analytics Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of Verisk Analytics stock opened at $276.28 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36. Verisk Analytics has a 12-month low of $217.34 and a 12-month high of $296.58. The company has a market cap of $39.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.10, a PEG ratio of 3.55 and a beta of 0.87. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $282.15 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $274.38.

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

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th were issued a dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.56%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 13th. Verisk Analytics’s payout ratio is 24.34%.

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.