Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) Sees Large Increase in Short Interest

Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) saw a large growth in short interest during the month of May. As of May 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,870,000 shares, a growth of 28.1% from the April 30th total of 2,240,000 shares. Currently, 2.1% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 937,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.1 days.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $285.86, for a total value of $337,028.94. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 13,786 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,940,865.96. This represents a 7.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 300 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $295.38, for a total transaction of $88,614.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 16,665 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,922,507.70. The trade was a 1.77% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 8,363 shares of company stock valued at $2,529,187 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.46% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 1.5% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,733,589 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,980,251,000 after purchasing an additional 239,483 shares in the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 0.5% during the first quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 5,235,090 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,558,067,000 after acquiring an additional 25,010 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,691,016 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,292,047,000 after buying an additional 72,045 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,811,563 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,051,300,000 after buying an additional 19,423 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 36.0% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,251,051 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $669,958,000 after purchasing an additional 596,225 shares in the last quarter. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Verisk Analytics Trading Up 0.9%

Verisk Analytics stock opened at $316.99 on Tuesday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $298.85 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $290.71. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36. The stock has a market cap of $44.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89. Verisk Analytics has a 12 month low of $251.59 and a 12 month high of $317.81.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The business services provider reported $1.73 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.68 by $0.05. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 274.13% and a net margin of 32.65%. The firm had revenue of $753.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $750.31 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.63 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Verisk Analytics will post 6.63 EPS for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be paid a $0.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.57%. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 26.35%.

Verisk Analytics declared that its board has initiated a stock buyback 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 repurchase up to 2.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have weighed in on the stock. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $297.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Bank of America assumed coverage on Verisk Analytics in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $280.00 target price for the company. UBS Group lifted their target price on Verisk Analytics from $295.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, May 12th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Verisk Analytics from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Verisk Analytics from $320.00 to $335.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $302.40.

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.