Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) Receives Consensus Recommendation of "Hold" from Analysts

Key Points

• Verisk Analytics, Inc. has an average consensus recommendation of "Hold" from analysts, with one sell rating, five hold ratings, and five buy ratings.
• The company reported a net margin of 30.67% and a year-over-year revenue increase of 7.8%, with recent quarterly earnings surpassing analysts' estimates.
• Verisk Analytics will pay a quarterly dividend of $0.45 per share on September 30th, representing an annualized yield of 0.7%.

Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) have received an average recommendation of "Hold" from the eleven brokerages that are covering the company, Marketbeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have given a hold recommendation and five have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $308.0909.

VRSK has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Raymond James Financial set a $315.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, August 4th. UBS Group lowered their price target on Verisk Analytics from $320.00 to $300.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on Verisk Analytics from $340.00 to $334.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, September 17th. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $320.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $317.00 to $319.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st.

Verisk Analytics Stock Up 0.7%

Shares of VRSK stock opened at $248.78 on Tuesday. Verisk Analytics has a twelve month low of $239.83 and a twelve month high of $322.92. The stock has a market cap of $34.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.33, a P/E/G ratio of 3.50 and a beta of 0.86. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $266.72 and a 200 day moving average of $289.24. The company has a current ratio of 1.53, a quick ratio of 1.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.34.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The business services provider reported $1.88 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.77 by $0.11. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 30.67% and a return on equity of 460.89%. The business had revenue of $772.60 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $767.91 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.74 EPS. The business's revenue was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. Verisk Analytics has set its FY 2025 guidance at 6.800-7.000 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Verisk Analytics will post 6.63 EPS for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 15th. Verisk Analytics's payout ratio is 27.73%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 326 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $300.86, for a total value of $98,080.36. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 9,319 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,803,714.34. The trade was a 3.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 300 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $254.72, for a total value of $76,416.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 15,165 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,862,828.80. This represents a 1.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 14,265 shares of company stock valued at $4,002,332. 0.46% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in VRSK. Louisbourg Investments Inc. purchased a new position in Verisk Analytics during the first quarter worth approximately $25,000. AlphaCore Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics during the 2nd quarter worth $27,000. Osterweis Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics during the 2nd quarter valued at about $28,000. Spurstone Advisory Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the second quarter valued at about $29,000. Finally, NewSquare Capital LLC increased its position in Verisk Analytics by 69.0% during the second quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC now owns 98 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during 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.

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