Posted by Defense World Staff on Mar 27th, 2024 
Evercore ISI reiterated their in-line rating on shares of Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK – Free Report) in a research report report published on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $250.00 price target on the business services provider’s stock.
Other analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Bank of America cut shares of Verisk Analytics from a buy rating to a neutral rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $270.00 to $260.00 in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a hold rating and issued a $253.00 target price (up from $252.00) on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Friday, December 8th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $252.00.
Check Out Our Latest Stock Analysis on Verisk Analytics
Shares of VRSK stock opened at $231.21 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $33.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 54.92, a PEG ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.79. Verisk Analytics has a 52 week low of $184.04 and a 52 week high of $251.98. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.85. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $241.55 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $239.13.
Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The business services provider reported $1.40 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.44 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $677.20 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $673.56 million. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 305.15% and a net margin of 22.92%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.43 EPS. Analysts predict that Verisk Analytics will post 6.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.
The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 29th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.67%. This is an increase from Verisk Analytics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 14th. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio is presently 37.05%.
Verisk Analytics declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 21st that permits the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the business services provider to purchase up to 2.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.
In related news, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 1,507 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $235.64, for a total transaction of $355,109.48. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 48,860 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,513,370.40. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Verisk Analytics news, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 1,507 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $235.64, for a total value of $355,109.48. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 48,860 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,513,370.40. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 227 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $237.61, for a total transaction of $53,937.47. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 7,796 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,852,407.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 4,797 shares of company stock worth $1,152,053. Insiders own 1.31% of the company’s stock.
Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in VRSK. Morgan Stanley boosted its position in Verisk Analytics by 248.2% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,765,708 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $664,346,000 after buying an additional 2,684,234 shares during the period. Citigroup Inc. boosted its position in Verisk Analytics by 1,404.8% in the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 1,992,727 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $470,762,000 after buying an additional 1,860,298 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter valued at about $374,530,000. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 90.5% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,141,516 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $272,663,000 after purchasing an additional 542,432 shares during the period. Finally, Nuveen Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 35.4% in the 4th quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 1,865,533 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $445,601,000 after purchasing an additional 487,335 shares during the period. 90.81% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
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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.
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