Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) PT Raised to $241.00 at BMO Capital Markets

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) had its price objective lifted by BMO Capital Markets from $238.00 to $241.00 in a research report released on Thursday morning, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a market perform rating on the business services provider’s stock.

VRSK has been the subject of several other research reports. Evercore ISI restated an in-line rating and set a $250.00 price target on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Bank of America cut shares of Verisk Analytics from a buy rating to a neutral rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $270.00 to $260.00 in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $252.21.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

NASDAQ VRSK traded up $3.57 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $237.33. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,127,556 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,025,848. The company has a current ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.94. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $231.57 and a 200 day simple moving average of $236.03. Verisk Analytics has a 52 week low of $205.70 and a 52 week high of $251.98. The stock has a market cap of $33.86 billion, a PE ratio of 44.28, a PEG ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.79.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The business services provider reported $1.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.52 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $704.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $699.07 million. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 268.19% and a net margin of 28.45%. The business’s revenue was up 8.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.29 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Verisk Analytics will post 6.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Stockholders of record on Saturday, June 15th will be given a dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.66%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 14th. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.10%.

Insider Activity at Verisk Analytics

In other news, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 1,554 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $222.93, for a total value of $346,433.22. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 51,715 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,528,824.95. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 1,554 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, April 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $222.93, for a total transaction of $346,433.22. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 51,715 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,528,824.95. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO David J. Grover sold 6,481 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $233.06, for a total value of $1,510,461.86. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 12,140 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,829,348.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 11,300 shares of company stock valued at $2,647,952 over the last 90 days. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new stake in Verisk Analytics during the 1st quarter worth about $28,000. CVA Family Office LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter worth approximately $30,000. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter worth approximately $32,000. DSM Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Finally, Global Retirement Partners LLC increased its stake in Verisk Analytics by 48.5% in the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 150 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 49 shares during the period. 90.00% of the stock is currently 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.