$1.42 Earnings Per Share Expected for Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) This Quarter

Analysts predict that Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK – Get Rating) will announce $1.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the current fiscal quarter, according to Zacks. Six analysts have made estimates for Verisk Analytics’ earnings. The lowest EPS estimate is $1.39 and the highest is $1.45. Verisk Analytics posted earnings of $1.17 per share during the same quarter last year, which would suggest a positive year-over-year growth rate of 21.4%. The firm is expected to report its next earnings results on Monday, January 1st.

On average, analysts expect that Verisk Analytics will report full-year earnings of $5.72 per share for the current year, with EPS estimates ranging from $5.58 to $5.85. For the next fiscal year, analysts expect that the business will report earnings of $6.18 per share, with EPS estimates ranging from $5.54 to $6.48. Zacks’ earnings per share calculations are an average based on a survey of sell-side research firms that cover Verisk Analytics.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 3rd. The business services provider reported $1.34 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.39 by ($0.05). The firm had revenue of $775.50 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $773.79 million. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 32.92% and a return on equity of 32.10%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.23 EPS.

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on VRSK shares. Bank of America started coverage on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Friday, March 11th. They issued an “underperform” rating for the company. Zacks Investment Research cut shares of Verisk Analytics from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $210.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Thursday, May 5th. Raymond James dropped their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $240.00 to $220.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 2nd. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $225.00 to $205.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 5th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $210.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 14th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $219.80.

In other Verisk Analytics news, CEO Scott G. Stephenson sold 167,187 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.54, for a total transaction of $29,013,631.98. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 712,256 shares in the company, valued at approximately $123,604,906.24. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director David B. Wright sold 4,675 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.46, for a total transaction of $862,350.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 172,828 shares of company stock valued at $30,078,128. 2.28% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. HighTower Trust Services LTA increased its position in Verisk Analytics by 0.3% in the first quarter. HighTower Trust Services LTA now owns 15,949 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,423,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares during the last quarter. Chesley Taft & Associates LLC increased its position in Verisk Analytics by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Chesley Taft & Associates LLC now owns 1,615 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $369,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Callahan Advisors LLC increased its position in Verisk Analytics by 0.3% in the first quarter. Callahan Advisors LLC now owns 14,526 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,118,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Icon Wealth Partners LLC increased its position in Verisk Analytics by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Icon Wealth Partners LLC now owns 8,890 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,033,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Madison Wealth Management increased its position in Verisk Analytics by 0.3% in the third quarter. Madison Wealth Management now owns 16,070 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,218,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.29% of the company’s stock.

Shares of NASDAQ:VRSK traded up $2.55 on Friday, hitting $176.21. The company had a trading volume of 1,901,423 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,149,174. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $203.67 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $207.22. Verisk Analytics has a 1 year low of $167.37 and a 1 year high of $231.57. The company has a quick ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 0.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88. The firm has a market capitalization of $27.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.51, a P/E/G ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 0.86.

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 30th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 15th will be given a dividend of $0.31 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 14th. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.70%. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 20.06%.

About Verisk Analytics (Get Rating)

Verisk Analytics, Inc provides data analytics solutions in the United States and internationally. The company provides predictive analytics and decision support solutions to customers in rating, underwriting, claims, catastrophe and weather risk, global risk analytics, natural resources intelligence, economic forecasting, commercial banking and finance, and various other fields.

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