Brokerages Set Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) Target Price at $302.40

Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) have received an average rating of “Hold” from the ten analysts that are covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $302.40.

A number of research firms recently commented on VRSK. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on Verisk Analytics from $320.00 to $335.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $297.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. UBS Group boosted their target price on Verisk Analytics from $295.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, May 12th. Bank of America initiated coverage on Verisk Analytics in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $280.00 target price for the company. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered 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.

Verisk Analytics Trading Up 0.5%

VRSK stock opened at $309.93 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 26.13, a current ratio of 1.27 and a quick ratio of 1.27. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $305.61 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $293.21. Verisk Analytics has a one year low of $257.59 and a one year high of $322.92. The stock has a market cap of $43.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.82 and a beta of 0.87.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The business services provider reported $1.73 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.68 by $0.05. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 396.08% and a net margin of 33.13%. The company had revenue of $753.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $750.31 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.63 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Verisk Analytics will post 6.63 EPS for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.58%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. Verisk Analytics’s payout ratio is 26.35%.

Verisk Analytics declared that its board has initiated a share repurchase program on Wednesday, February 26th that allows the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the business services provider to repurchase up to 2.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 5,419 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $318.10, for a total value of $1,723,783.90. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 56,701 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,036,588.10. This represents a 8.72% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Samuel G. Liss sold 11,656 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, June 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $313.06, for a total value of $3,649,027.36. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 67,244 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,051,406.64. The trade was a 14.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 24,259 shares of company stock worth $7,553,769. Corporate insiders own 0.46% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Verisk Analytics

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in VRSK. Louisbourg Investments Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics during the 1st quarter valued at $25,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter worth $28,000. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter worth $30,000. Kestra Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter worth $32,000. Finally, Rakuten Securities Inc. grew its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 6,050.0% during the 4th quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 123 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 121 shares during the period. 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.