Analysts Set Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) PT at $293.11

Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) has earned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the nine research firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $295.33.

Several brokerages have commented on VRSK. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $285.00 to $301.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Barclays lowered shares of Verisk Analytics from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $310.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Friday, January 10th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $263.00 to $276.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price 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, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 target price on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Tuesday, January 7th.

Insider Activity at Verisk Analytics

In related news, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 17th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $2,557,155.96. This trade represents a 18.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction that occurred 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,760,958.66. This trade represents a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 4,469 shares of company stock valued at $1,264,818 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Verisk Analytics

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in VRSK. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter worth approximately $526,676,000. Amundi grew its position in Verisk Analytics by 52.4% in the 4th 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. bought a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter worth approximately $110,094,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its position 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 purchasing an additional 393,218 shares during the period. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its position 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 purchasing an additional 392,270 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

Shares of VRSK opened at $295.11 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. Verisk Analytics has a one year low of $217.34 and a one year high of $296.94. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $282.65 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $277.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $41.67 billion, a PE ratio of 46.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.40 and a beta of 0.89.

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th were given a dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 13th. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 24.34%.

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.