Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) Rating Reiterated by Royal Bank of Canada

Royal Bank of Canada reissued their outperform rating on shares of Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) in a report released on Thursday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $268.00 price objective on the business services provider’s stock.

VRSK has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $243.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a report on Wednesday. UBS Group boosted their target price on Verisk Analytics from $255.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $250.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an in-line rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 25th. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $268.00 to $285.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $238.00 to $241.00 and gave the company a market perform rating in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $268.29.

Verisk Analytics Trading Up 1.4 %

Verisk Analytics stock traded up $3.65 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $265.02. 131,542 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 841,634. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.94, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 1.09. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $268.65 and its 200 day moving average price is $248.65. The firm has a market capitalization of $37.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.76, a P/E/G ratio of 3.26 and a beta of 0.84. Verisk Analytics has a 52-week low of $215.32 and a 52-week high of $287.13.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The business services provider reported $1.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.64 by $0.10. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 32.03% and a return on equity of 270.96%. The business had revenue of $716.80 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $722.45 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.51 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Verisk Analytics will post 6.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Sunday, September 15th will be given a dividend of $0.39 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.59%. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio is currently 29.10%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $262.31, for a total value of $52,462.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 16,608 shares in the company, valued at $4,356,444.48. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Verisk Analytics news, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 326 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $272.22, for a total value of $88,743.72. Following the sale, the insider now owns 7,470 shares in the company, valued at $2,033,483.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $262.31, for a total value of $52,462.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 16,608 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,356,444.48. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 2,237 shares of company stock worth $572,739 over the last three months. 0.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Verisk Analytics

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics during the second quarter valued at $31,000. Chilton Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics during the second quarter valued at $34,000. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics during the first quarter valued at $28,000. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, DSM Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter valued at about $33,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

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.