Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) Now Covered by Bank of America

Investment analysts at Bank of America began coverage on shares of Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) in a note issued to investors on Thursday. The firm set an "underperform" rating and a $280.00 price target on the business services provider's stock. Bank of America's price objective points to a potential downside of 5.12% from the stock's current price.

A number of other equities research analysts have also weighed in on VRSK. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $297.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on Verisk Analytics from $298.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Barclays lowered 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. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $283.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Verisk Analytics has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $297.40.

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Verisk Analytics Trading Up 1.1 %

Verisk Analytics stock traded up $3.22 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $295.10. The stock had a trading volume of 837,584 shares, compared to its average volume of 780,600. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.82. Verisk Analytics has a twelve month low of $217.34 and a twelve month high of $306.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $41.30 billion, a PE ratio of 46.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.88. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $292.30 and its 200 day simple moving average is $283.30.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 26th. The business services provider reported $1.61 earnings per share (EPS) 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%. Analysts expect that Verisk Analytics will post 6.63 EPS for the current year.

Verisk Analytics declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share 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 repurchase up to 2.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally an indication that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

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, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $295.36, for a total value of $348,229.44. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 13,786 shares in the company, valued at $4,071,832.96. This trade represents a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, January 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.06, for a total value of $595,428.66. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 9,066 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,557,155.96. The trade was a 18.89 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 5,648 shares of company stock valued at $1,628,433 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.40% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Verisk Analytics

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of VRSK. Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted 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 acquiring an additional 392,270 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,691,016 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,292,047,000 after purchasing an additional 72,045 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,811,563 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,051,300,000 after buying an additional 19,423 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter valued at $526,676,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in Verisk Analytics by 9.6% during the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.