Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) Price Target Raised to $320.00

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) had its price target hoisted by UBS Group from $295.00 to $320.00 in a report released on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. UBS Group currently has a neutral rating on the business services provider’s stock.

A number of other analysts have also weighed in on VRSK. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $320.00 to $335.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 27th. BMO Capital Markets raised 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, February 27th. Finally, Bank of America started coverage on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $280.00 price objective on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $302.40.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

Shares of Verisk Analytics stock opened at $301.27 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.82. The firm has a market cap of $42.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.00, a P/E/G ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $292.57 and a 200 day simple moving average of $287.44. Verisk Analytics has a fifty-two week low of $245.01 and a fifty-two week high of $312.82.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The business services provider reported $1.73 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.68 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $753.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $750.31 million. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 32.65% and a return on equity of 274.13%. Verisk Analytics’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.63 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Verisk Analytics will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be given a dividend of $0.45 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.60%. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio is 26.35%.

Verisk Analytics declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase program 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 repurchase up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Verisk Analytics

In other news, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $295.36, for a total transaction of $348,229.44. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 13,786 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,071,832.96. This trade represents a 7.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO David J. Grover sold 5,705 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction on Friday, May 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $307.68, for a total transaction of $1,755,314.40. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 12,937 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,980,456.16. This represents a 30.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 8,363 shares of company stock valued at $2,529,187 over the last three months. 0.46% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Verisk Analytics

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Truvestments Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 732.5% during the first quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC now owns 333 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $99,000 after acquiring an additional 293 shares during the period. FORA Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 85.8% during the first quarter. FORA Capital LLC now owns 1,455 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $433,000 after acquiring an additional 672 shares during the period. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec raised its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 45.8% during the first quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 187,692 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $55,861,000 after acquiring an additional 58,995 shares during the period. CSM Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics during the first quarter worth $203,000. Finally, Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 0.7% during the first quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 637,343 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $189,686,000 after acquiring an additional 4,306 shares during the period. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.