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

Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) have been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twelve research firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $278.67.

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $282.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $268.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. UBS Group upped their price target on Verisk Analytics from $255.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $278.00 to $263.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Evercore ISI restated an “in-line” rating and set a $279.00 target price on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verisk Analytics

In other news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $271.33, for a total transaction of $54,266.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 15,808 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,289,184.64. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Verisk Analytics

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in VRSK. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics during the second quarter worth about $31,000. Chilton Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Verisk Analytics in the second quarter valued at approximately $34,000. OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new position in Verisk Analytics in the first quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Rothschild Investment LLC acquired a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics in the second quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Finally, Riverview Trust Co bought a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics during the first quarter worth $40,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Verisk Analytics Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of VRSK opened at $268.09 on Tuesday. 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 company has a market cap of $38.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.02, a PEG ratio of 3.40 and a beta of 0.86. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $268.99 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $260.03. Verisk Analytics has a 52-week low of $215.32 and a 52-week high of $287.13.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The business services provider reported $1.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.64 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $716.80 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $722.45 million. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 252.11% and a net margin of 32.03%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.51 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Verisk Analytics will post 6.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Sunday, September 15th were paid a dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 13th. Verisk Analytics’s payout ratio is 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.