Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) Receives Average Recommendation of “Hold” from Brokerages

Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Hold” by the eighteen research firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $282.1429.

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Rothschild & Co Redburn reaffirmed a “sell” rating and set a $220.00 price target (down from $280.00) on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Thursday, October 16th. UBS Group lowered their target price on Verisk Analytics from $320.00 to $300.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Verisk Analytics from $315.00 to $250.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on Verisk Analytics from $334.00 to $300.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Verisk Analytics to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Jeffrey J. Dailey bought 500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 31st. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $217.03 per share, with a total value of $108,515.00. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 3,962 shares in the company, valued at $859,872.86. The trade was a 14.44% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Sabra R. Purtill purchased 450 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 31st. The stock was acquired at an average price of $217.95 per share, with a total value of $98,077.50. Following the purchase, the director owned 1,327 shares in the company, valued at $289,219.65. This represents a 51.31% increase in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders have acquired 1,450 shares of company stock valued at $314,663 and have sold 7,420 shares valued at $1,889,171. 0.46% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Verisk Analytics

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 17,241,327 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,336,366,000 after purchasing an additional 346,525 shares during the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 5,354,082 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,346,605,000 after buying an additional 158,791 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 0.8% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,011,295 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,249,900,000 after acquiring an additional 33,213 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 36.0% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,251,051 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $669,958,000 after acquiring an additional 596,225 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the second quarter worth approximately $556,192,000. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

VRSK opened at $222.96 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 1.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.55. Verisk Analytics has a 12-month low of $196.99 and a 12-month high of $322.92. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $235.93 and a two-hundred day moving average of $273.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $31.07 billion, a PE ratio of 33.99, a P/E/G ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.84.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The business services provider reported $1.72 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.70 by $0.02. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 30.42% and a return on equity of 425.42%. The business had revenue of $768.30 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $776.04 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.67 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. Verisk Analytics has set its FY 2025 guidance at 6.800-7.000 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Verisk Analytics will post 6.63 EPS for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Monday, December 15th will be given a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 15th. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 27.44%.

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.