Robert W. Baird Issues Positive Forecast for Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) Stock Price

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) had its target price lifted by Robert W. Baird from $285.00 to $301.00 in a research report report published on Thursday morning, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an outperform rating on the business services provider’s stock.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Evercore ISI reissued an “in-line” rating and issued a $279.00 target price on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Verisk Analytics to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $243.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $268.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $275.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $280.00.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

Shares of Verisk Analytics stock traded down $1.07 during trading on Thursday, reaching $273.65. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 188,847 shares, compared to its average volume of 794,046. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $268.92 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $261.87. Verisk Analytics has a fifty-two week low of $217.34 and a fifty-two week high of $287.13. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36. The firm has a market cap of $38.97 billion, a PE ratio of 42.86, a P/E/G ratio of 3.50 and a beta of 0.86.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $1.67 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.07. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 274.13% and a net margin of 32.65%. The company had revenue of $725.30 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $722.19 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.52 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Verisk Analytics will post 6.58 EPS for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.39 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.57%. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio is presently 24.34%.

Insider Activity at Verisk Analytics

In other Verisk Analytics news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the firm’s 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 completion of 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Verisk Analytics

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics during the second quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Chilton Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the 2nd quarter valued at about $34,000. Rothschild Investment LLC acquired a new position in Verisk Analytics during the 2nd quarter valued at about $41,000. Kings Path Partners LLC bought a new position in Verisk Analytics in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $46,000. Finally, Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics during the third quarter valued at $50,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

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.