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

Evercore ISI reissued their in-line rating on shares of Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) in a research report released on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. Evercore ISI currently has a $250.00 price target on the business services provider’s stock.

Several other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Bank of America cut shares of Verisk Analytics from a buy rating to a neutral rating and decreased their target price for the company from $270.00 to $260.00 in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a hold rating and issued a $253.00 target price (up from $252.00) on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Friday, December 8th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Verisk Analytics has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $252.00.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

NASDAQ VRSK opened at $235.73 on Tuesday. Verisk Analytics has a 12-month low of $186.96 and a 12-month high of $251.98. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.85. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $241.34 and its 200-day moving average is $238.98. The company has a market capitalization of $33.80 billion, a PE ratio of 55.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.79.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last released its earnings results 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 net margin of 22.92% and a return on equity of 305.15%. The firm had revenue of $677.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $673.56 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.43 earnings per share. Verisk Analytics’s quarterly revenue was up 7.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Verisk Analytics will post 6.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were given a $0.39 dividend. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This is a boost from Verisk Analytics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. Verisk Analytics’s payout ratio is presently 37.05%.

Verisk Analytics announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Wednesday, February 21st that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the business services provider to reacquire up to 2.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 1,507 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $235.64, for a total value of $355,109.48. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 48,860 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,513,370.40. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 1,507 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $235.64, for a total value of $355,109.48. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 48,860 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,513,370.40. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 227 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $237.61, for a total value of $53,937.47. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 7,796 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,852,407.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 11,278 shares of company stock valued at $2,662,515. 1.31% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. raised its stake in Verisk Analytics by 36.2% in the third quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 1,332 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $315,000 after purchasing an additional 354 shares in the last quarter. Curbstone Financial Management Corp raised its stake in Verisk Analytics by 0.5% in the third quarter. Curbstone Financial Management Corp now owns 10,130 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,393,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Verisk Analytics during the third quarter worth about $349,000. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Verisk Analytics by 6.0% during the third quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 558,840 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $132,020,000 after acquiring an additional 31,855 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Schroder Investment Management Group raised its stake in Verisk Analytics by 21.9% during the third quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 552,316 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $130,479,000 after acquiring an additional 99,115 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.