Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) Increases Dividend to $0.45 Per Share

Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, February 19th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of 0.45 per share by the business services provider on Monday, March 31st. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.61%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This is an increase from Verisk Analytics's previous quarterly dividend of $0.39.

Verisk Analytics has raised its dividend payment by an average of 10.4% annually over the last three years. Verisk Analytics has a payout ratio of 19.3% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Verisk Analytics to earn $7.25 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.56 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 21.5%.

Verisk Analytics Stock Up 2.3 %

VRSK traded up $6.80 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $296.91. 1,029,579 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 740,925. The company has a market cap of $41.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.32, a PEG ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.82. Verisk Analytics has a fifty-two week low of $217.34 and a fifty-two week high of $300.50. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $284.30 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $278.35.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 26th. The business services provider reported $1.61 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $735.60 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $733.55 million. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 32.65% and a return on equity of 274.13%. As a group, analysts forecast that Verisk Analytics will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have weighed in on the stock. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $297.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Thursday. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $300.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Barclays lowered shares of Verisk Analytics from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and set a $310.00 price target for the company. in a report on Friday, January 10th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $298.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $299.33.

Verisk Analytics declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program on Wednesday, February 26th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the business services provider to purchase up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally an indication that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at Verisk Analytics

In related news, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $272.81, for a total value of $321,642.99. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 13,786 shares in the company, valued at $3,760,958.66. This trade represents a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.06, for a total transaction of $595,428.66. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 9,066 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,557,155.96. This represents a 18.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 4,469 shares of company stock worth $1,264,818 in the last ninety days. 0.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.