Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) Cut to "Equal Weight" at Barclays

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) was downgraded by research analysts at Barclays from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday, MarketBeat reports. They presently have a $310.00 price target on the business services provider's stock. Barclays's target price would indicate a potential upside of 15.40% from the stock's previous close.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on VRSK. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $263.00 to $276.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. 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 report on Thursday, December 12th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $300.00 price target on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Tuesday. Evercore ISI reiterated an "in-line" rating and set a $279.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their price target on Verisk Analytics from $285.00 to $301.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Verisk Analytics has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $293.11.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

Verisk Analytics stock traded down $11.79 on Friday, reaching $268.63. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,139,609 shares, compared to its average volume of 936,600. The business's fifty day moving average price is $282.76 and its 200 day moving average price is $274.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.82. The company has a market cap of $37.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.91, a PEG ratio of 3.55 and a beta of 0.88. Verisk Analytics has a twelve month low of $217.34 and a twelve month high of $296.58.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $1.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.07. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 274.13% and a net margin of 32.65%. The business had revenue of $725.30 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $722.19 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.52 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Verisk Analytics will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Verisk Analytics news, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $272.81, for a total transaction of $321,642.99. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 13,786 shares in the company, valued at $3,760,958.66. This represents a 7.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Lee Shavel sold 1,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $286.49, for a total value of $286,490.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 54,163 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,517,157.87. This represents a 1.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 3,579 shares of company stock worth $1,000,407. Corporate insiders own 0.40% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Verisk Analytics

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new position in Verisk Analytics during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $34,000. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Verisk Analytics in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $50,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC boosted its position in Verisk Analytics by 101.5% in the third quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC now owns 276 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $74,000 after buying an additional 139 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quarry LP bought a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics during the third quarter worth $79,000. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.