Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) Downgraded to “Equal Weight” Rating by Barclays

Barclays lowered shares of Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating in a report released on Friday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. They currently have $310.00 price objective on the business services provider’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also issued reports on the stock. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $285.00 to $301.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $263.00 to $276.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Evercore ISI reiterated an “in-line” rating and issued a $279.00 target price on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Verisk Analytics from $283.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $300.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Tuesday. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Verisk Analytics has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $293.11.

Verisk Analytics Stock Down 4.2 %

Verisk Analytics stock opened at $268.63 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.82. Verisk Analytics has a fifty-two week low of $217.34 and a fifty-two week high of $296.58. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $282.62 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $274.57. The firm has a market cap of $37.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.91, a P/E/G ratio of 3.55 and a beta of 0.88.

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

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th were given a $0.39 dividend. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.34%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verisk Analytics

In other news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 15,608 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,471,535.92. The trade was a 1.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Lee Shavel sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $286.49, for a total value of $286,490.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 54,163 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,517,157.87. This represents a 1.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 3,579 shares of company stock valued at $1,000,407. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Verisk Analytics

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Marshall Financial Group LLC grew its holdings 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 worth $1,322,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC grew its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 1.5% during the third 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 last quarter. Ascent Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 1.8% in the second 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 in the last quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC raised its position in Verisk Analytics by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 5,109 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,369,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI lifted its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 2,025 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $543,000 after buying an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.