Brokerages Set Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) PT at $302.40

Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) has earned a consensus rating of "Hold" from the ten ratings firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have issued a hold recommendation and three have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $302.40.

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Verisk Analytics from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Bank of America started coverage on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Thursday, April 10th. They set an "underperform" rating and a $280.00 target price on the stock. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $320.00 to $335.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $295.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, May 12th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $297.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th.

Verisk Analytics Trading Down 0.5%

Verisk Analytics stock traded down $1.64 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $314.32. The company's stock had a trading volume of 774,120 shares, compared to its average volume of 767,734. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.82. The company has a 50 day moving average of $297.24 and a 200-day moving average of $290.04. Verisk Analytics has a one year low of $245.01 and a one year high of $322.96. The stock has a market cap of $43.97 billion, a PE ratio of 49.04, a P/E/G ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The business services provider reported $1.73 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.68 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $753.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $750.31 million. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 32.65% and a return on equity of 274.13%. The firm's revenue was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.63 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Verisk Analytics will post 6.63 EPS for the current year.

Verisk Analytics announced that its board has approved a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 26th that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in 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 typically an indication that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.45 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.57%. Verisk Analytics's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.35%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verisk Analytics

In other news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 300 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at $4,922,507.70. This represents a 1.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO David J. Grover sold 5,705 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $307.68, for a total transaction of $1,755,314.40. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 12,937 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,980,456.16. This represents a 30.60% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 8,363 shares of company stock worth $2,529,187. 0.46% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Verisk Analytics

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Manchester Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 468.8% during the fourth quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 91 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Louisbourg Investments Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics during the 1st quarter valued at about $25,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Roxbury Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. 90.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.