BMO Capital Markets Issues Positive Forecast for Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) Stock Price

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) had its price target lifted by BMO Capital Markets from $280.00 to $297.00 in a research report report published on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a market perform rating on the business services provider’s stock.

Several other research analysts have also issued reports on VRSK. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on Verisk Analytics from $298.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $300.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $313.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $283.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Barclays lowered Verisk Analytics from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $310.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Friday, January 10th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $299.33.

Verisk Analytics Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ:VRSK opened at $290.11 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $283.90 and its 200 day moving average is $278.03. Verisk Analytics has a 1 year low of $217.34 and a 1 year high of $300.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $40.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.26, a P/E/G ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.82.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The business services provider reported $1.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.01. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 274.13% and a net margin of 32.65%. The company had revenue of $735.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $733.55 million. On average, research analysts predict that Verisk Analytics will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Wednesday, February 26th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the business services provider to buy up to 2.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.45 dividend. This is an increase from Verisk Analytics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.62%. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio is presently 24.34%.

Insider Transactions at Verisk Analytics

In other news, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $272.81, for a total value of $321,642.99. Following the sale, the director now owns 13,786 shares in the company, valued at $3,760,958.66. This represents a 7.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, 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 transaction, the insider now owns 9,066 shares in the company, valued at $2,557,155.96. This represents a 18.89 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 4,469 shares of company stock worth $1,264,818 over the last quarter. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Verisk Analytics

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of VRSK. Manchester Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Verisk Analytics by 468.8% during the fourth quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 91 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter worth approximately $28,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter worth approximately $28,000. Roxbury Financial LLC purchased a new position in Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter worth approximately $29,000. Finally, SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter worth approximately $30,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.