Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) Shares Gap Down - Here's What Happened

Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) gapped down prior to trading on Wednesday . The stock had previously closed at $299.72, but opened at $263.97. Verisk Analytics shares last traded at $288.68, with a volume of 393,763 shares changing hands.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have weighed in on VRSK shares. Robert W. Baird increased 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. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Verisk Analytics from $283.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $297.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Thursday. Royal Bank of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $300.00 target price on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target 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. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Verisk Analytics currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $299.33.

Verisk Analytics Trading Up 2.3 %

The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36. The business's fifty day moving average is $284.30 and its 200 day moving average is $278.35. The stock has a market cap of $41.93 billion, a PE ratio of 46.32, a P/E/G ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The business services provider reported $1.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $735.60 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 predict that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.45 dividend. This is a positive change from Verisk Analytics's previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.61%. Verisk Analytics's dividend payout ratio is 26.87%.

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

Insider Transactions at Verisk Analytics

In other Verisk Analytics news, 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 transaction of $595,428.66. Following 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $294.95, for a total value of $347,746.05. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 13,786 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,066,180.70. This trade represents a 7.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 4,469 shares of company stock valued at $1,264,818 in the last 90 days. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Verisk Analytics

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter worth about $526,676,000. Amundi lifted its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 52.4% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 1,252,532 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $351,226,000 after buying an additional 430,719 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter worth approximately $110,094,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its stake in Verisk Analytics by 31,634.6% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 394,461 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $108,646,000 after acquiring an additional 393,218 shares during the period. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its stake in Verisk Analytics by 8.1% in the 4th quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 5,210,080 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,435,012,000 after acquiring an additional 392,270 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.00% of the company's stock.

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.