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

Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) have been assigned an average rating of “Hold” from the fourteen research firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $252.00.

Several analysts have recently commented on VRSK shares. Bank of America lowered Verisk Analytics from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $270.00 to $260.00 in a report on Monday, January 8th. Evercore ISI reiterated an “in-line” rating and set a $250.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Tuesday, March 26th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Verisk Analytics news, CAO David J. Grover sold 6,481 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $233.06, for a total transaction of $1,510,461.86. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 12,140 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,829,348.40. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 227 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $237.61, for a total transaction of $53,937.47. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 7,796 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,852,407.56. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO David J. Grover sold 6,481 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $233.06, for a total value of $1,510,461.86. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 12,140 shares in the company, valued at $2,829,348.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 11,300 shares of company stock valued at $2,647,952. Company insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Verisk Analytics

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. CVA Family Office LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. DSM Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. Global Retirement Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 48.5% during the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 150 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 49 shares during the period. Finally, NewSquare Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics during the 3rd quarter valued at about $39,000. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Verisk Analytics Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ VRSK opened at $221.14 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $31.57 billion, a PE ratio of 52.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.78. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $232.86 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $236.51. Verisk Analytics has a 12-month low of $187.86 and a 12-month high of $251.98.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 21st. The business services provider reported $1.40 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.44 by ($0.04). Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 22.92% and a return on equity of 305.15%. The business had revenue of $677.20 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $673.56 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.43 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Verisk Analytics will post 6.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were given a dividend of $0.39 per share. This is an increase from Verisk Analytics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 37.05%.

Verisk Analytics announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, February 21st that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the business services provider to repurchase up to 2.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

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.