Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) Sees Large Growth in Short Interest

Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) saw a significant growth in short interest in August. As of August 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,450,000 shares, a growth of 33.9% from the July 31st total of 1,830,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 761,200 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.2 days. Currently, 1.7% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Insider Activity at Verisk Analytics

In related news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction on Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $277.38, for a total transaction of $55,476.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 16,408 shares in the company, valued at $4,551,251.04. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 326 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $272.22, for a total value of $88,743.72. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 7,470 shares in the company, valued at $2,033,483.40. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $277.38, for a total value of $55,476.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 16,408 shares in the company, valued at $4,551,251.04. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 726 shares of company stock worth $196,682. Corporate insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Verisk Analytics

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of VRSK. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 9,061.6% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 26,752 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $6,390,000 after buying an additional 26,460 shares during the period. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. increased its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 30.1% during the fourth quarter. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. now owns 5,316 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,270,000 after purchasing an additional 1,230 shares in the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 20.1% during the fourth quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 57,729 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $13,779,000 after purchasing an additional 9,665 shares in the last quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. increased its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 8.5% during the fourth quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. now owns 3,416 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $816,000 after purchasing an additional 267 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp increased its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 4.5% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 22,174 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $5,296,000 after purchasing an additional 955 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Verisk Analytics Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ VRSK traded up $0.24 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $271.71. The stock had a trading volume of 342,917 shares, compared to its average volume of 823,070. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.86. The firm has a market cap of $38.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.69, a P/E/G ratio of 3.40 and a beta of 0.84. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $271.45 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $251.67. Verisk Analytics has a 52-week low of $215.32 and a 52-week high of $287.13.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The business services provider reported $1.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.64 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $716.80 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $722.45 million. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 252.11% and a net margin of 32.03%. Verisk Analytics’s quarterly revenue was up 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.51 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Verisk Analytics will post 6.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Sunday, September 15th will be issued a $0.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.57%. Verisk Analytics’s payout ratio is 29.10%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $278.00 to $263.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $282.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on Verisk Analytics from $250.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 25th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Verisk Analytics from $255.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Verisk Analytics from $268.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Verisk Analytics presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $273.54.

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.