Brokerages Set Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) Price Target at $299.33

Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) have been given an average recommendation of "Hold" by the nine analysts that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1-year target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $299.33.

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on VRSK shares. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Verisk Analytics from $283.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Barclays lowered shares of Verisk Analytics from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and set a $310.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Friday, January 10th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $297.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. 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 research report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $298.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th.

Verisk Analytics Trading Down 0.3 %

NASDAQ VRSK traded down $0.92 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $288.58. The company had a trading volume of 740,701 shares, compared to its average volume of 728,526. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $40.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $287.70 and a 200 day moving average of $279.98. Verisk Analytics has a 1-year low of $217.34 and a 1-year high of $306.10.

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

Verisk Analytics declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, February 26th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the business services provider to repurchase up to 2.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.45 per share. This is a boost from Verisk Analytics's previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.62%. Verisk Analytics's payout ratio is presently 26.87%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $294.95, for a total transaction of $347,746.05. Following the transaction, the director now owns 13,786 shares in the company, valued at $4,066,180.70. This trade represents a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.06, for a total value of $595,428.66. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 9,066 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,557,155.96. The trade was a 18.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 5,648 shares of company stock valued at $1,613,047. 0.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Verisk Analytics

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of VRSK. Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 8.1% in the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 5,210,080 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,435,012,000 after buying an additional 392,270 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,691,016 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,292,047,000 after purchasing an additional 72,045 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,811,563 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,051,300,000 after purchasing an additional 19,423 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter worth $526,676,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in Verisk Analytics by 9.6% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,654,826 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $455,789,000 after buying an additional 144,599 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.00% of the company's stock.

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.