Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) Price Target Raised to $310.00 at Barclays

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) had its price objective boosted by Barclays from $275.00 to $310.00 in a research note published on Friday, Benzinga reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the business services provider’s stock.

A number of other analysts have also recently weighed in on VRSK. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an outperform rating and issued a $268.00 price target on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Verisk Analytics to a strong-buy rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $282.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $243.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, UBS Group increased their price target on Verisk Analytics from $255.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Verisk Analytics has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $276.14.

Verisk Analytics Stock Down 0.1 %

VRSK opened at $268.79 on Friday. Verisk Analytics has a fifty-two week low of $215.32 and a fifty-two week high of $287.13. The company has a market capitalization of $38.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.15, a P/E/G ratio of 3.44 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.86, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $271.71 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $253.94.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The business services provider reported $1.74 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.64 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $716.80 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $722.45 million. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 32.03% and a return on equity of 252.11%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.51 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Verisk Analytics will post 6.56 EPS for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Sunday, September 15th will be paid a $0.39 dividend. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.10%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 326 shares of the firm’s 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 7,470 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,033,483.40. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Verisk Analytics news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $277.38, for a total value of $55,476.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 16,408 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,551,251.04. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 326 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $272.22, for a total transaction of $88,743.72. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 7,470 shares in the company, valued at $2,033,483.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 726 shares of company stock valued at $196,682 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Verisk Analytics

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. lifted its stake in Verisk Analytics by 225.5% in the fourth quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 205,110 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $48,993,000 after buying an additional 142,088 shares in the last quarter. Pinebridge Investments L.P. lifted its position in Verisk Analytics by 64.2% in the 4th quarter. Pinebridge Investments L.P. now owns 8,231 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,966,000 after acquiring an additional 3,219 shares in the last quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. acquired a new position in Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter worth $698,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,407,133 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,919,008,000 after purchasing an additional 170,620 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. raised its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 362,915 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $85,550,000 after purchasing an additional 4,147 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

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.