Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the nine brokerages that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $293.11.

VRSK has been the subject of a number of research reports. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 target price on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on Verisk Analytics from $285.00 to $301.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Verisk Analytics from $263.00 to $276.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Evercore ISI reaffirmed an “in-line” rating and set a $279.00 price target on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Barclays downgraded Verisk Analytics from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $310.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Friday, January 10th.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.06, for a total value of $595,428.66. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 9,066 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,557,155.96. This represents a 18.89 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $286.49, for a total value of $57,298.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 15,608 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,471,535.92. This trade represents a 1.27 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 5,490 shares of company stock valued at $1,541,570. 0.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Verisk Analytics

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in VRSK. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics during the third quarter worth $34,000. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics during the third quarter worth $50,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 101.5% during the third quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC now owns 276 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $74,000 after buying an additional 139 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quarry LP acquired a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics during the third quarter worth $79,000. Institutional investors own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

Shares of VRSK stock opened at $279.35 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $281.91 and a 200-day moving average of $274.88. Verisk Analytics has a one year low of $217.34 and a one year high of $296.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.82. The stock has a market cap of $39.45 billion, a PE ratio of 43.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 0.88.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $1.67 earnings per share (EPS) 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 business had revenue of $725.30 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $722.19 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.52 EPS. Verisk Analytics’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Verisk Analytics will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th were issued a $0.39 dividend. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. Verisk Analytics’s payout ratio is presently 24.34%.

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.