Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) has received an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the fourteen brokerages that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, six have assigned a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $273.54.

Several research firms recently commented on VRSK. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $243.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on Verisk Analytics from $268.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $282.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $278.00 to $263.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on Verisk Analytics from $255.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 9th.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 326 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $272.22, for a total value of $88,743.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 7,470 shares in the company, valued at $2,033,483.40. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 326 shares of the firm’s 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 7,470 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,033,483.40. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $277.38, for a total value of $55,476.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 16,408 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,551,251.04. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 726 shares of company stock worth $196,682. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Verisk Analytics

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 1.1% in 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. Legal & General Group Plc increased its stake in Verisk Analytics by 7.4% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 1,618,266 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $436,204,000 after purchasing an additional 111,364 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $374,530,000. TD Asset Management Inc boosted its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 5.5% during 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 period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 90.5% during 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 period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

Shares of VRSK opened at $268.15 on Monday. Verisk Analytics has a 1 year low of $215.32 and a 1 year high of $287.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.86, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $271.38 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $251.26. The firm has a market cap of $38.26 billion, a PE ratio of 50.03, a PEG ratio of 3.42 and a beta of 0.84.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 for 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 quarterly revenue was up 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.51 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Verisk Analytics will post 6.56 EPS for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Sunday, September 15th will be issued a $0.39 dividend. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is 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.