Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) Earns In-Line Rating from Evercore ISI

Evercore ISI reaffirmed their in-line rating on shares of Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday morning, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Evercore ISI currently has a $279.00 price target on the business services provider’s stock.

VRSK has been the subject of several other research reports. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $275.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Verisk Analytics to a strong-buy rating in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on Verisk Analytics from $278.00 to $263.00 and set a market perform rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $243.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $282.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Verisk Analytics currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $276.69.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

VRSK opened at $265.67 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $268.40 and a 200 day simple moving average of $256.91. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.86. The stock has a market cap of $37.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.57, a P/E/G ratio of 3.41 and a beta of 0.86. Verisk Analytics has a 12 month low of $215.32 and a 12 month high of $287.13.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The business services provider reported $1.74 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.64 by $0.10. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 252.11% and a net margin of 32.03%. The company had revenue of $716.80 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $722.45 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.51 earnings per share. Verisk Analytics’s revenue was up 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Verisk Analytics will post 6.56 EPS for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Sunday, September 15th were paid a $0.39 dividend. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.59%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 13th. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio is currently 29.10%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $277.38, for a total value of $55,476.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 16,408 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,551,251.04. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Verisk Analytics

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. raised its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 60.4% in the second quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 541,426 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $145,941,000 after purchasing an additional 203,951 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,407,133 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,919,008,000 after acquiring an additional 170,620 shares during the period. Schroder Investment Management Group boosted its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 24.9% during the fourth quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 690,022 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $164,819,000 after acquiring an additional 137,706 shares during the period. Swedbank AB acquired a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics in the first quarter valued at approximately $28,739,000. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 187.1% during the second quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 171,835 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $46,305,000 after purchasing an additional 111,992 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

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.