Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) Lowered to Equal Weight Rating by Barclays

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

A number of other equities analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on Verisk Analytics from $285.00 to $301.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on Verisk Analytics from $263.00 to $276.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Evercore ISI restated an “in-line” rating and set a $279.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price 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. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Verisk Analytics has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $293.11.

Verisk Analytics Stock Down 4.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ:VRSK opened at $268.63 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36. The business’s 50 day moving average is $282.62 and its 200 day moving average is $274.62. The stock has a market cap of $37.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.55 and a beta of 0.88. Verisk Analytics has a 52-week low of $217.34 and a 52-week high of $296.58.

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

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

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

Insider Transactions at Verisk Analytics

In other Verisk Analytics news, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $272.81, for a total transaction of $321,642.99. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 13,786 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,760,958.66. The trade was a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Lee Shavel sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $286.49, for a total value of $286,490.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 54,163 shares in the company, 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 90 days, insiders have sold 3,579 shares of company stock worth $1,000,407. Insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Verisk Analytics

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of VRSK. Marshall Financial Group LLC raised its position in Verisk Analytics by 0.8% during the third quarter. Marshall Financial Group LLC now owns 4,932 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,322,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC increased its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 1.5% during the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Ascent Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 1.8% in the 2nd 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 during the period. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC boosted its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 0.8% during the third quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 5,109 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,369,000 after buying an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI grew its position in Verisk Analytics by 2.2% during the third quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 2,025 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $543,000 after buying an additional 43 shares during the period. 90.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.