Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) Short Interest Down 19.0% in February

Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) was the recipient of a large drop in short interest in the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 2,000,000 shares, a drop of 19.0% from the February 13th total of 2,470,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 765,300 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.6 days. Currently, 1.4% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verisk Analytics

In related news, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $295.36, for a total transaction of $348,229.44. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 13,786 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,071,832.96. The trade was a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.06, for a total transaction of $595,428.66. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 9,066 shares in the company, valued at $2,557,155.96. This trade represents a 18.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 5,648 shares of company stock valued at $1,613,047 in the last ninety days. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Verisk Analytics

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in VRSK. Sanctuary Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 188.2% during the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 25,637 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $7,454,000 after purchasing an additional 16,742 shares during the last quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter valued at about $212,000. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 899.1% during the third quarter. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 11,919 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,913,000 after purchasing an additional 10,726 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd lifted its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 479.1% during the third quarter. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd now owns 16,853 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,516,000 after purchasing an additional 13,943 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 14.4% during the third quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 70,667 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $18,936,000 after purchasing an additional 8,884 shares during the last quarter. 90.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VRSK has been the topic of several research reports. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $283.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $297.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Barclays downgraded shares of Verisk Analytics from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $310.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $298.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Verisk Analytics presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $299.33.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:VRSK opened at $289.74 on Thursday. The company’s 50-day moving average is $288.80 and its 200 day moving average is $280.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.82. The company has a market capitalization of $40.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89. Verisk Analytics has a fifty-two week low of $217.34 and a fifty-two week high of $306.10.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last issued its quarterly 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 company had revenue of $735.60 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $733.55 million. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 32.65% and a return on equity of 274.13%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Verisk Analytics will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.45 dividend. This is an increase from Verisk Analytics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.62%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Verisk Analytics’s payout ratio is 26.87%.

Verisk Analytics declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program on Wednesday, February 26th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the business services provider to purchase up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

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.