Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) Posts Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.07 EPS

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday. The business services provider reported $1.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.07, Briefing.com reports. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 32.03% and a return on equity of 252.11%. The company had revenue of $725.30 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $722.19 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.52 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Verisk Analytics updated its FY 2024 guidance to 6.300-6.600 EPS and its FY24 guidance to $6.30 to $6.60 EPS.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

VRSK stock traded up $1.61 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $277.24. The stock had a trading volume of 197,391 shares, compared to its average volume of 792,140. The stock has a market capitalization of $39.56 billion, a PE ratio of 51.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.36 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.86, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $268.83 and a 200 day simple moving average of $261.78. Verisk Analytics has a fifty-two week low of $215.32 and a fifty-two week high of $287.13.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a $0.39 dividend. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio is currently 29.10%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verisk Analytics

In other news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $271.33, for a total transaction of $54,266.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 15,808 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,289,184.64. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Verisk Analytics to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $282.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $275.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $285.00 to $301.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $255.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $280.00.

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.