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

Key Points

• Verisk Analytics has received an average analyst recommendation of "Hold" from 15 analysts, with a consensus target price of $299.33.
• The company recently reported earnings of $1.88 per share, exceeding analysts' expectations, alongside a revenue increase of 7.8% year-over-year to $772.6 million.
• Recent insider trading includes CEO Lee Shavel selling 1,100 shares, leading to a 1.37% decrease in his position, while CFO Elizabeth Mann also sold shares, reflecting broader patterns of insider selling.

Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) have been assigned an average recommendation of "Hold" from the fifteen analysts that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have given a hold recommendation, five have issued a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $299.3333.

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on VRSK. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Verisk Analytics from $340.00 to $334.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, September 17th. Weiss Ratings cut Verisk Analytics from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research report on Friday. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on Verisk Analytics from $292.00 to $262.00 and set an "in-line" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Verisk Analytics to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn reiterated a "sell" rating and set a $220.00 price objective (down previously from $280.00) on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Thursday, October 16th.

Verisk Analytics Trading Up 0.1%

NASDAQ:VRSK opened at $234.94 on Friday. Verisk Analytics has a 1 year low of $228.09 and a 1 year high of $322.92. The stock has a market capitalization of $32.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.20, a PEG ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.85. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $253.29 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $282.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.34, a quick ratio of 1.53 and a current ratio of 1.53.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The business services provider reported $1.88 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.77 by $0.11. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 460.89% and a net margin of 30.67%.The business had revenue of $772.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $767.91 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.74 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter 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 anticipate that Verisk Analytics will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Lee Shavel sold 1,100 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $268.01, for a total transaction of $294,811.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 78,907 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,147,865.07. This trade represents a 1.37% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 300 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.23, for a total value of $72,669.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 14,865 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,600,748.95. This represents a 1.98% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 8,520 shares of company stock worth $2,255,396. 0.46% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Verisk Analytics

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI increased its position in Verisk Analytics by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 3,356 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $844,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Tema Etfs LLC purchased a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,299,000. Bayforest Capital Ltd purchased a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the 3rd quarter valued at about $174,000. Parnassus Investments LLC grew its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 31.8% in the 3rd quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 1,492,715 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $375,433,000 after buying an additional 360,419 shares during the period. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd grew its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 17,909 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $4,504,000 after buying an additional 208 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.00% of the company's stock.

About Verisk Analytics

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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