Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) Hits New 52-Week High – Should You Buy?

Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) shares reached a new 52-week high on Monday . The stock traded as high as $291.66 and last traded at $291.49, with a volume of 2553 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $290.73.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $243.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Evercore ISI reaffirmed an “in-line” rating and set a $279.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $285.00 to $301.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $275.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $282.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Verisk Analytics presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $285.80.

Verisk Analytics Trading Up 1.1 %

The stock has a market capitalization of $41.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.65 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $273.66 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $269.24.

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

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a $0.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.53%. Verisk Analytics’s payout ratio is 24.34%.

Insider Transactions at Verisk Analytics

In related news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $286.49, for a total value of $57,298.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 15,608 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,471,535.92. The trade was a 1.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Lee Shavel sold 1,000 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.71, for a total transaction of $280,710.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 53,163 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,923,385.73. The trade was a 1.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 2,400 shares of company stock worth $678,764. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in VRSK. Marshall Financial Group LLC increased its position in Verisk Analytics by 0.8% during the 3rd 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 during the period. Signaturefd LLC increased its position in Verisk Analytics by 1.5% during the 3rd 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 during the period. Brookstone Capital Management increased its position in Verisk Analytics by 1.2% during the 2nd 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 during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in Verisk Analytics by 19.0% during the 1st 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 during the period. Finally, Ascent Group LLC increased its position in Verisk Analytics by 1.8% during the 2nd 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 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.