Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) Given Consensus Rating of “Hold” by Brokerages

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

VRSK has been the topic of several recent research reports. Bank of America lowered shares of Verisk Analytics from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $270.00 to $260.00 in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Evercore ISI reiterated an “in-line” rating and set a $250.00 target price on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Tuesday, March 26th.

Verisk Analytics Stock Up 0.3 %

VRSK stock opened at $221.85 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.85, a current ratio of 1.05 and a quick ratio of 1.05. The stock has a market capitalization of $31.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 52.70, a P/E/G ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.78. Verisk Analytics has a fifty-two week low of $187.86 and a fifty-two week high of $251.98. The business has a 50-day moving average of $232.40 and a 200-day moving average of $236.28.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last released its earnings results 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). The firm had revenue of $677.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $673.56 million. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 22.92% and a return on equity of 305.15%. The company’s revenue was up 7.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.43 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Verisk Analytics will post 6.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a $0.39 dividend. This is an increase from Verisk Analytics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. Verisk Analytics’s payout ratio is currently 37.05%.

Insider Activity at Verisk Analytics

In other Verisk Analytics news, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 1,507 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.25, for a total transaction of $375,619.75. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 50,208 shares in the company, valued at $12,514,344. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Verisk Analytics news, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 1,507 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.25, for a total value of $375,619.75. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 50,208 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,514,344. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 227 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $237.61, for a total value of $53,937.47. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 7,796 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,852,407.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 11,300 shares of company stock worth $2,647,952. Insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter worth approximately $374,530,000. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 90.5% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,141,516 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $272,663,000 after purchasing an additional 542,432 shares in the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc increased its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 45.8% in the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 1,342,721 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $320,722,000 after purchasing an additional 422,002 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its stake in Verisk Analytics by 5.5% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 7,523,191 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,777,279,000 after purchasing an additional 392,945 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in Verisk Analytics by 21.4% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,195,471 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $282,418,000 after purchasing an additional 211,032 shares during the period. 90.00% of the stock is owned by 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.