Wells Fargo & Company Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) Stock Price

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) had its price objective cut by Wells Fargo & Company from $325.00 to $321.00 in a research report released on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an overweight rating on the business services provider's stock.

Other equities analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $298.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report 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 report on Tuesday, January 7th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $297.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $283.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Barclays cut Verisk Analytics from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and set a $310.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Verisk Analytics currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $299.33.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

NASDAQ VRSK traded up $4.42 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $301.33. The company's stock had a trading volume of 990,293 shares, compared to its average volume of 747,157. 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 business has a 50-day simple moving average of $284.30 and a 200 day simple moving average of $278.42. Verisk Analytics has a 52 week low of $217.34 and a 52 week high of $302.25. The stock has a market cap of $42.55 billion, a PE ratio of 47.01, a PEG ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 business had revenue of $735.60 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $733.55 million. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 274.13% and a net margin of 32.65%. Equities research analysts predict that Verisk Analytics will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

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 given a $0.45 dividend. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.60%. This is an increase from Verisk Analytics's previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Verisk Analytics's dividend payout ratio is 26.87%.

Insider Transactions at Verisk Analytics

In other news, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $294.95, for a total transaction of $347,746.05. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 13,786 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,066,180.70. This trade represents a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the insider now owns 9,066 shares in the company, 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. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 4,469 shares of company stock valued at $1,264,818. Corporate insiders own 0.40% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Verisk Analytics

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in VRSK. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter valued at $526,676,000. Amundi raised its position 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 worth $351,226,000 after purchasing an additional 430,719 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter valued at $110,094,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 31,634.6% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 394,461 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $108,646,000 after purchasing an additional 393,218 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its position in shares of 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 valued at $1,435,012,000 after purchasing an additional 392,270 shares during the period. 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.