Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twelve ratings firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $278.67.

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on VRSK shares. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on Verisk Analytics from $278.00 to $263.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 1st. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $255.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $282.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Evercore ISI restated an “in-line” rating and set a $279.00 price target on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Verisk Analytics to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verisk Analytics

In related news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $271.33, for a total value of $54,266.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 15,808 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,289,184.64. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Verisk Analytics

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of VRSK. Marshall Financial Group LLC raised 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 valued at $1,322,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the period. Brookstone Capital Management lifted its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 3,517 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $982,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Verisk Analytics by 19.0% in the 1st quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 263 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $57,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares during the period. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. grew its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 2.9% during the 1st quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 1,533 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $361,000 after buying an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ascent Group LLC increased its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 1.8% during the second quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 2,465 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $664,000 after buying an additional 43 shares during the period. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

NASDAQ VRSK opened at $267.62 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $38.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.93, a PEG ratio of 3.42 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $268.88 and a 200 day simple moving average of $259.53. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.86. Verisk Analytics has a 12-month low of $215.32 and a 12-month high of $287.13.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The business services provider reported $1.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.64 by $0.10. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 32.03% and a return on equity of 252.11%. The firm had revenue of $716.80 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $722.45 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.51 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Verisk Analytics will post 6.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Sunday, September 15th were issued a $0.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 13th. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.58%. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.10%.

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.