Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the ten analysts that are covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, three have assigned a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong 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 $285.80.

VRSK has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $285.00 to $301.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on Verisk Analytics from $268.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Barclays raised their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $275.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Verisk Analytics to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $263.00 to $276.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

Verisk Analytics stock opened at $289.05 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $40.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.67 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $276.45 and a 200-day moving average of $270.80. Verisk Analytics has a 52 week low of $217.34 and a 52 week high of $296.58.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $1.67 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 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 period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.52 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Verisk Analytics will post 6.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced 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. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.34%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verisk Analytics

In related news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $286.49, for a total value of $57,298.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 15,608 shares in the company, valued at $4,471,535.92. This trade represents a 1.27 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Lee Shavel sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $286.49, for a total value of $286,490.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 54,163 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,517,157.87. This trade represents a 1.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 2,400 shares of company stock worth $678,764. 0.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Verisk Analytics

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of VRSK. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics in the second quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Chilton Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the second quarter worth approximately $34,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new position in Verisk Analytics during the 3rd quarter valued at $34,000. Rothschild Investment LLC acquired a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics during the 2nd quarter valued at $41,000. Finally, Kings Path Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the 2nd quarter worth $46,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

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.