Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) PT Raised to $285.00

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) had its price objective increased by Robert W. Baird from $268.00 to $285.00 in a report released on Thursday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have an outperform rating on the business services provider’s stock.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $243.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of 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 boosted their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $238.00 to $241.00 and gave the stock a market perform rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $250.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an in-line rating in a report on Tuesday, June 25th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $267.77.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ VRSK opened at $266.66 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.86. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $268.95 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $249.03. Verisk Analytics has a 12 month low of $215.32 and a 12 month high of $287.13. The stock has a market cap of $37.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.75, a PEG ratio of 3.28 and a beta of 0.84.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The business services provider reported $1.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.64 by $0.10. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 32.03% and a return on equity of 252.11%. The firm had revenue of $716.80 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $722.45 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.51 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Verisk Analytics will post 6.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Sunday, September 15th will be given a dividend of $0.39 per share. The ex-dividend date 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 presently 29.10%.

Insider Transactions at Verisk Analytics

In other news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $262.31, for a total transaction of $52,462.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 16,608 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,356,444.48. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $262.31, for a total transaction of $52,462.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 16,608 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,356,444.48. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 326 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $272.22, for a total transaction of $88,743.72. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 7,470 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,033,483.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 2,237 shares of company stock valued at $572,739. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Verisk Analytics

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,407,133 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,919,008,000 after buying an additional 170,620 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $374,530,000. TD Asset Management Inc increased its stake in Verisk Analytics by 5.5% in the second quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 1,502,614 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $405,030,000 after purchasing an additional 78,008 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in Verisk Analytics by 90.5% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,141,516 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $272,663,000 after purchasing an additional 542,432 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GUARDCAP ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd increased its stake in Verisk Analytics by 1.1% in the first quarter. GUARDCAP ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd now owns 1,137,069 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $268,041,000 after purchasing an additional 12,231 shares during the last quarter. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.