Analysts Set Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) Price Target at $275.23

Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) has received a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the fourteen research firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $275.23.

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on VRSK shares. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $268.00 price target on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Wells Fargo & Company raised Verisk Analytics to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $255.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $250.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 25th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $278.00 to $263.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 1st.

Insider Activity at Verisk Analytics

In other news, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 326 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $272.22, for a total value of $88,743.72. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 7,470 shares in the company, valued at $2,033,483.40. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Verisk Analytics news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $277.38, for a total transaction of $55,476.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 16,408 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,551,251.04. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 326 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $272.22, for a total value of $88,743.72. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 7,470 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,033,483.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Verisk Analytics

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Sanctuary Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Verisk Analytics during the second quarter valued at $2,398,000. New Century Financial Group LLC lifted its position in Verisk Analytics by 22.9% during the 2nd quarter. New Century Financial Group LLC now owns 2,644 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $713,000 after acquiring an additional 493 shares during the period. Ariadne Wealth Management LP purchased a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the second quarter worth about $694,000. Cetera Investment Advisers grew its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 2.6% in the second quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 55,957 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $15,083,000 after purchasing an additional 1,442 shares during the period. Finally, Fiera Capital Corp grew its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 37.3% in the second quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 29,803 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $8,033,000 after purchasing an additional 8,095 shares during the period. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

Shares of VRSK opened at $264.79 on Friday. Verisk Analytics has a 52-week low of $215.32 and a 52-week high of $287.13. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $270.21 and its 200 day simple moving average is $255.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.86, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 0.95. The stock has a market capitalization of $37.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.42 and a beta of 0.86.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The business services provider reported $1.74 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.64 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $716.80 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $722.45 million. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 32.03% and a return on equity of 252.11%. Verisk Analytics’s revenue was up 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.51 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Verisk Analytics will post 6.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Sunday, September 15th will be issued a $0.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.59%. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio is currently 29.10%.

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.