Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) Receives Average Rating of "Hold" from Brokerages

Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) has earned a consensus recommendation of "Hold" from the ten ratings firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $297.40.

Several analysts recently issued reports on the stock. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $297.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $300.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Verisk Analytics from $298.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Verisk Analytics from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Barclays cut Verisk Analytics from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and set a $310.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Friday, January 10th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $295.36, for a total value of $348,229.44. Following the sale, the director now owns 13,786 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,071,832.96. The trade was a 7.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 300 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $295.38, for a total transaction of $88,614.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 16,665 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,922,507.70. This trade represents a 1.77 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 3,837 shares of company stock worth $1,121,618 in the last 90 days. 0.46% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Verisk Analytics

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in VRSK. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter valued at $212,000. Norris Perne & French LLP MI lifted its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Norris Perne & French LLP MI now owns 61,889 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $17,046,000 after acquiring an additional 1,126 shares during the last quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 68.7% in the 4th quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 105,331 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $29,011,000 after acquiring an additional 42,883 shares during the last quarter. Oak Ridge Investments LLC boosted its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 5.3% during the 4th quarter. Oak Ridge Investments LLC now owns 41,155 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $11,335,000 after purchasing an additional 2,089 shares during the period. Finally, Avanza Fonder AB bought a new position in Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter valued at about $2,957,000. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

Verisk Analytics stock traded up $1.44 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $296.19. 879,858 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 761,600. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.82. Verisk Analytics has a 12 month low of $237.09 and a 12 month high of $306.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $41.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89. The business has a 50 day moving average of $291.58 and a two-hundred day moving average of $285.88.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 26th. The business services provider reported $1.61 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 company had revenue of $735.60 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $733.55 million. As a group, research analysts predict that Verisk Analytics will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were given a dividend of $0.45 per share. This is a positive change from Verisk Analytics's previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.61%. Verisk Analytics's dividend payout ratio is currently 26.87%.

Verisk Analytics announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 26th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the business services provider to purchase up to 2.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

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.