Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) Coverage Initiated at Bank of America

Stock analysts at Bank of America started coverage on shares of Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) in a report issued on Thursday. The brokerage set an “underperform” rating and a $280.00 price target on the business services provider’s stock. Bank of America‘s price objective would suggest a potential downside of 4.07% from the company’s previous close.

Several other equities analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $298.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 target price on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Barclays downgraded shares of Verisk Analytics from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $310.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Friday, January 10th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $297.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Verisk Analytics presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $297.40.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

Shares of VRSK opened at $291.88 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36. The firm has a market cap of $40.94 billion, a PE ratio of 45.54, a P/E/G ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.88. Verisk Analytics has a 12 month low of $217.34 and a 12 month high of $306.68. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $292.30 and a 200-day moving average price of $283.17.

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

Verisk Analytics declared that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, February 26th that permits the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the business services provider to purchase up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verisk Analytics

In other Verisk Analytics news, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.06, for a total transaction of $595,428.66. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 9,066 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,557,155.96. The trade was a 18.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $294.95, for a total value of $347,746.05. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 13,786 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,066,180.70. This trade represents a 7.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 5,648 shares of company stock worth $1,628,433. Corporate insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Verisk Analytics

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 8.1% during the 4th quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 5,210,080 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,435,012,000 after buying an additional 392,270 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its position in Verisk Analytics by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,691,016 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,292,047,000 after acquiring an additional 72,045 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Verisk Analytics by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,811,563 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,051,300,000 after acquiring an additional 19,423 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter valued at $526,676,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 9.6% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,654,826 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $455,789,000 after purchasing an additional 144,599 shares during the last quarter. 90.00% of the stock is 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.