Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) Short Interest Update

Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,660,000 shares, a growth of 46.2% from the October 31st total of 1,820,000 shares. Approximately 1.9% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 670,700 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 4.0 days.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Verisk Analytics news, CEO Lee Shavel sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $286.49, for a total value of $286,490.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 54,163 shares in the company, valued at $15,517,157.87. This trade represents a 1.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $271.33, for a total transaction of $54,266.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 15,808 shares in the company, valued at $4,289,184.64. This represents a 1.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 2,400 shares of company stock worth $678,764. 0.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Verisk Analytics

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in VRSK. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its position in Verisk Analytics by 131.6% during the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 45,960 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $10,832,000 after buying an additional 26,115 shares during the period. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 29.5% during the 1st quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 1,623 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $383,000 after acquiring an additional 370 shares during the period. Tidal Investments LLC grew its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 164.0% during the 1st quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 6,193 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,459,000 after acquiring an additional 3,847 shares during the period. Comerica Bank increased its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 3.4% in the 1st quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 34,857 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $8,217,000 after purchasing an additional 1,140 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB acquired a new position in Verisk Analytics in the 1st quarter worth about $28,739,000. 90.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

NASDAQ:VRSK opened at $294.56 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $274.83 and its two-hundred day moving average is $269.59. The firm has a market cap of $41.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.95, a PEG ratio of 3.69 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.82. Verisk Analytics has a one year low of $217.34 and a one year high of $296.58.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $1.67 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $725.30 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $722.19 million. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 274.13% and a net margin of 32.65%. The company’s revenue was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.52 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Verisk Analytics will post 6.63 EPS for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a $0.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.53%. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio is presently 24.34%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently issued reports on VRSK shares. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Verisk Analytics from $268.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $282.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Evercore ISI reiterated an “in-line” rating and issued a $279.00 target price on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $285.00 to $301.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Verisk Analytics to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Verisk Analytics presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $285.80.

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.