Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) Stock Price Up 5.8%

Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report)'s stock price was up 5.8% on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $233.63 and last traded at $230.59. Approximately 256,447 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 71% from the average daily volume of 876,572 shares. The stock had previously closed at $217.96.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on VRSK. Evercore ISI reissued an "in-line" rating and set a $250.00 target price on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Bank of America cut shares of Verisk Analytics from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $270.00 to $260.00 in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Verisk Analytics presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $252.00.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $231.79 and a 200 day simple moving average of $236.07. The stock has a market capitalization of $33.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 55.14, a P/E/G ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.85, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.05.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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). Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 305.15% and a net margin of 22.92%. The company had revenue of $677.20 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $673.56 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.43 earnings per share. Verisk Analytics's revenue was up 7.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were given a dividend of $0.39 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This is a boost from Verisk Analytics's previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.67%. Verisk Analytics's dividend payout ratio is 37.05%.

Verisk Analytics declared that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 21st that permits the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the business services provider to buy up to 2.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verisk Analytics

In other news, CAO David J. Grover sold 6,481 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $233.06, for a total value of $1,510,461.86. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 12,140 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,829,348.40. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 1,507 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.25, for a total transaction of $375,619.75. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 50,208 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,514,344. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO David J. Grover sold 6,481 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $233.06, for a total transaction of $1,510,461.86. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 12,140 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,829,348.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 11,300 shares of company stock valued at $2,647,952. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Verisk Analytics

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its stake in Verisk Analytics by 10.9% during the 4th quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 346,646 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $82,800,000 after purchasing an additional 34,077 shares during the last quarter. Fenimore Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 421.9% during the fourth quarter. Fenimore Asset Management Inc. now owns 75,404 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $18,011,000 after buying an additional 60,957 shares in the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp raised its position in Verisk Analytics by 5.7% in the 4th quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 522,386 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $124,777,000 after buying an additional 28,008 shares during the last quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. boosted its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 36.2% during the 3rd quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 1,332 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $315,000 after acquiring an additional 354 shares during the last quarter. Finally, abrdn plc grew its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 55.2% in the 4th quarter. abrdn plc now owns 60,324 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $14,409,000 after acquiring an additional 21,458 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.