Short Interest in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) Declines By 19.0%

Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) saw a significant drop in short interest during the month of September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,040,000 shares, a drop of 19.0% from the August 31st total of 2,520,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 731,700 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.8 days. Approximately 1.4% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on VRSK. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $243.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $282.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $275.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $250.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 25th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on Verisk Analytics from $278.00 to $263.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Verisk Analytics presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $275.23.

Insider Activity

In other Verisk Analytics news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $277.38, for a total transaction of $55,476.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 16,408 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,551,251.04. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 326 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $272.22, for a total transaction of $88,743.72. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 7,470 shares in the company, valued at $2,033,483.40. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $277.38, for a total value of $55,476.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 16,408 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,551,251.04. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Verisk Analytics

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in VRSK. Sanctuary Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Verisk Analytics in the second quarter valued at about $2,398,000. New Century Financial Group LLC raised its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 22.9% in the 2nd quarter. New Century Financial Group LLC now owns 2,644 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $713,000 after buying an additional 493 shares in the last quarter. Ariadne Wealth Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $694,000. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its stake in Verisk Analytics by 2.6% in the second quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 55,957 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $15,083,000 after acquiring an additional 1,442 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fiera Capital Corp increased its stake in Verisk Analytics by 37.3% in the second quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 29,803 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $8,033,000 after acquiring an additional 8,095 shares during the last quarter. 90.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Verisk Analytics Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of VRSK traded down $0.17 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $264.99. The stock had a trading volume of 484,851 shares, compared to its average volume of 815,041. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $269.61 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $255.59. Verisk Analytics has a twelve month low of $215.32 and a twelve month high of $287.13. The firm has a market cap of $37.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.86, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.95.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The business services provider reported $1.74 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.64 by $0.10. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 252.11% and a net margin of 32.03%. The company had revenue of $716.80 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $722.45 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.51 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Verisk Analytics will post 6.56 EPS for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Sunday, September 15th will be given a dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.59%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio is currently 29.10%.

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.