Verisk Analytics’ (VRSK) In-Line Rating Reiterated at Evercore ISI

Evercore ISI reaffirmed their in-line rating on shares of Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $250.00 target price on the business services provider’s stock.

Several other brokerages have also recently weighed in on VRSK. Bank of America cut Verisk Analytics from a buy rating to a neutral rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $270.00 to $260.00 in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a hold rating and set a $253.00 target price (up previously from $252.00) on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Friday, December 8th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $252.00.

Verisk Analytics Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ VRSK opened at $235.73 on Tuesday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $241.34 and its two-hundred day moving average is $238.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.85, a current ratio of 1.05 and a quick ratio of 1.05. Verisk Analytics has a 1-year low of $186.96 and a 1-year high of $251.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $33.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 55.99, a PEG ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.79.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 21st. The business services provider reported $1.40 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.44 by ($0.04). Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 305.15% and a net margin of 22.92%. The company had revenue of $677.20 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $673.56 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.43 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 7.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Verisk Analytics will post 6.48 EPS for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a dividend of $0.39 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.66%. This is a positive change from Verisk Analytics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio is currently 37.05%.

Verisk Analytics announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Wednesday, February 21st that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the business services provider to reacquire up to 2.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO David J. Grover sold 6,481 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $233.06, for a total transaction of $1,510,461.86. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 12,140 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,829,348.40. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 1,507 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.25, for a total value of $375,619.75. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 50,208 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,514,344. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO David J. Grover sold 6,481 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $233.06, for a total value of $1,510,461.86. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 12,140 shares in the company, valued at $2,829,348.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 11,278 shares of company stock worth $2,662,515 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 1.31% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Verisk Analytics

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Quarry LP acquired a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics in the 1st quarter valued at $27,000. CVA Family Office LLC acquired a new stake in Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. Sunbelt Securities Inc. grew its position in Verisk Analytics by 67.5% during the 2nd quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 134 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the period. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. acquired a new stake in Verisk Analytics during the 2nd quarter worth about $30,000. Finally, Frazier Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter worth about $32,000. 90.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.