Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) Given Consensus Rating of “Hold” by Analysts

Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) have earned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the ten analysts that are covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. One investment 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. The average twelve-month price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $302.40.

VRSK has been the topic of several research analyst reports. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $295.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, May 12th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $297.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Thursday, April 10th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $280.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on Verisk Analytics from $320.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verisk Analytics

In other news, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 5,419 shares of the company’s 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 transaction, the insider now owns 56,701 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,036,588.10. This represents a 8.72% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO David J. Grover sold 5,705 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $307.68, for a total value of $1,755,314.40. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 12,937 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,980,456.16. This represents a 30.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 24,259 shares of company stock worth $7,553,769 in the last ninety days. 0.46% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Verisk Analytics

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Louisbourg Investments Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics in the 1st quarter worth approximately $25,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter worth $28,000. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter worth $30,000. Kestra Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter worth $32,000. Finally, Rakuten Securities Inc. grew its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 6,050.0% in the fourth quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 123 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 121 shares in the last quarter. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

Verisk Analytics stock opened at $305.13 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $42.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.68, a P/E/G ratio of 3.77 and a beta of 0.87. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $306.09 and its 200 day moving average price is $293.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 26.13, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.27. Verisk Analytics has a 1 year low of $257.59 and a 1 year high of $322.92.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The business services provider reported $1.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.68 by $0.05. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 33.13% and a return on equity of 396.08%. The business had revenue of $753.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $750.31 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.63 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Verisk Analytics will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.59%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.35%.

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.