BMO Capital Markets Raises Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) Price Target to $241.00

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) had its target price boosted by BMO Capital Markets from $238.00 to $241.00 in a report issued on Thursday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a market perform rating on the business services provider’s stock.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Evercore ISI reissued an in-line rating and issued a $250.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Bank of America downgraded 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. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $254.31.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

VRSK opened at $237.33 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $33.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.28, a PEG ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.79. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $231.42 and a 200-day moving average of $235.99. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.94. Verisk Analytics has a 12-month low of $205.70 and a 12-month high of $251.98.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $704.00 million during 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 for the quarter was up 8.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.29 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Verisk Analytics will post 6.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Stockholders of record on Saturday, June 15th will be issued 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 payout ratio is presently 29.10%.

Verisk Analytics declared that its board has approved a stock buyback 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 generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Verisk Analytics news, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 1,507 shares of Verisk Analytics 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 50,208 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,514,344. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Verisk Analytics news, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 1,507 shares of Verisk Analytics 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 50,208 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,514,344. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 227 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction on 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 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. Insiders sold 11,300 shares of company stock worth $2,647,952 in the last 90 days. 0.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Verisk Analytics

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 shares of Verisk Analytics in the 1st quarter valued at $28,000. CVA Family Office LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. DSM Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter valued at $33,000. Finally, Global Retirement Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of 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 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.