Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) Receives $285.80 Consensus PT from Analysts

Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the ten brokerages that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, three have issued a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $285.80.

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on VRSK shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $282.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on Verisk Analytics from $268.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on Verisk Analytics from $285.00 to $301.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Evercore ISI restated an “in-line” rating and issued a $279.00 price target on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on Verisk Analytics from $263.00 to $276.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

Shares of VRSK stock opened at $280.80 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $39.65 billion, a PE ratio of 43.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.64 and a beta of 0.86. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $271.13 and a 200-day simple moving average of $266.05. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36. Verisk Analytics has a 52-week low of $217.34 and a 52-week high of $291.42.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $1.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $725.30 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $722.19 million. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 274.13% and a net margin of 32.65%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.52 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Verisk Analytics will post 6.63 EPS for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.39 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.56%. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 24.34%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Verisk Analytics news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $271.33, for a total transaction of $54,266.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 15,808 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,289,184.64. The trade was a 1.25 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Verisk Analytics

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Marshall Financial Group LLC grew its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 0.8% in the third quarter. Marshall Financial Group LLC now owns 4,932 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,322,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC grew its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 1.5% in the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 2,586 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $693,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Brookstone Capital Management grew its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 1.2% in the second quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 3,517 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $982,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 19.0% in the first quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 263 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $57,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ascent Group LLC grew its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 1.8% in the second quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 2,465 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $664,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.