Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) Reaches New 52-Week High After Dividend Announcement

Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Thursday following a dividend announcement from the company. The stock traded as high as $291.97 and last traded at $291.97, with a volume of 937 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $290.04.

The newly announced dividend which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. Verisk Analytics’s payout ratio is currently 24.34%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently issued reports on VRSK. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $268.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $275.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective 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 raised their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $263.00 to $276.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Evercore ISI restated an “in-line” rating and set a $279.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $285.80.

Verisk Analytics Trading Down 1.9 %

The company’s 50 day moving average price is $271.13 and its 200 day moving average price is $266.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.82. The firm has a market cap of $39.65 billion, a PE ratio of 44.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.64 and a beta of 0.86.

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

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $271.33, for a total value of $54,266.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 15,808 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,289,184.64. This trade represents a 1.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Verisk Analytics

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of VRSK. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 6.5% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,618,971 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,237,700,000 after buying an additional 283,653 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc raised its position in Verisk Analytics by 7.4% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 1,618,266 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $436,204,000 after purchasing an additional 111,364 shares during the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc raised its position in Verisk Analytics by 5.5% in the 2nd quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 1,502,614 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $405,030,000 after purchasing an additional 78,008 shares during the last quarter. GUARDCAP ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd raised its position in Verisk Analytics by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. GUARDCAP ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd now owns 1,137,069 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $268,041,000 after purchasing an additional 12,231 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in Verisk Analytics by 8.4% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,103,628 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $297,491,000 after purchasing an additional 85,202 shares during the last quarter. 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.