Verisk Analytics (VRSK) Scheduled to Post Quarterly Earnings on Wednesday

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) is scheduled to be issuing its quarterly earnings data before the market opens on Wednesday, May 1st. Analysts expect the company to announce earnings of $1.52 per share for the quarter. Verisk Analytics has set its FY 2024 guidance at 6.300-6.600 EPS and its FY24 guidance at $6.30-6.60 EPS.Parties that are interested in registering for the company’s conference call can do so using this link.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The business services provider reported $1.40 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.44 by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $677.20 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $673.56 million. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 22.92% and a return on equity of 305.15%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.43 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect Verisk Analytics to post $6 EPS for the current fiscal year and $7 EPS for the next fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

Verisk Analytics stock opened at $221.14 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $31.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 52.53, a PEG ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.78. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $232.86 and a 200 day moving average price of $236.45. Verisk Analytics has a 52 week low of $187.86 and a 52 week high of $251.98. The company has a current ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.85.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a dividend of $0.39 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Verisk Analytics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.71%. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio is currently 37.05%.

Verisk Analytics announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Wednesday, February 21st that permits the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the business services provider to repurchase up to 2.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity at Verisk Analytics

In related news, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 1,507 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.25, for a total value of $375,619.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 50,208 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,514,344. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 1,507 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.25, for a total value of $375,619.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 50,208 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,514,344. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 227 shares of the 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 11,300 shares of company stock valued at $2,647,952. Insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on VRSK. Bank of America lowered Verisk Analytics from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $270.00 to $260.00 in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Evercore ISI restated an “in-line” rating and set a $250.00 price target on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Verisk Analytics currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $252.00.

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.