Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) Price Target Raised to $320.00 at Robert W. Baird

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) had its target price increased by Robert W. Baird from $298.00 to $320.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an outperform rating on the business services provider’s stock.

Other equities analysts have also issued reports about the stock. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $263.00 to $276.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $313.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $283.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Barclays downgraded shares of Verisk Analytics from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $310.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Verisk Analytics currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $299.33.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ VRSK opened at $290.11 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $40.97 billion, a PE ratio of 45.26, a PEG ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36. Verisk Analytics has a 1-year low of $217.34 and a 1-year high of $300.50. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $283.90 and a 200 day moving average price of $278.03.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The business services provider reported $1.61 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $735.60 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $733.55 million. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 32.65% and a return on equity of 274.13%. Research analysts predict that Verisk Analytics will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.45 dividend. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.62%. This is a boost from Verisk Analytics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio is presently 24.34%.

Verisk Analytics announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Wednesday, February 26th that permits the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the business services provider to purchase up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other Verisk Analytics news, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $272.81, for a total value of $321,642.99. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 13,786 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,760,958.66. This represents a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.06, for a total transaction of $595,428.66. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 9,066 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,557,155.96. This represents a 18.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 4,469 shares of company stock valued at $1,264,818. 0.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of VRSK. Manchester Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 468.8% in the 4th quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 91 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares during the period. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Roxbury Financial LLC bought a new position in Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Finally, SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new position in Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. 90.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.