Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) Price Target Raised to $300.00 at Morgan Stanley

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) had its price objective hoisted by Morgan Stanley from $283.00 to $300.00 in a research report released on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. Morgan Stanley currently has an equal weight rating on the business services provider’s stock.

Other research analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $285.00 to $301.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $275.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Evercore ISI reaffirmed an “in-line” rating and set a $279.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $263.00 to $276.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on Verisk Analytics from $268.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $289.80.

Verisk Analytics Stock Up 0.1 %

VRSK stock opened at $285.30 on Thursday. Verisk Analytics has a 52 week low of $217.34 and a 52 week high of $296.58. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $278.96 and a 200-day simple moving average of $272.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $40.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.51, a P/E/G ratio of 3.57 and a beta of 0.87.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $1.67 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $725.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $722.19 million. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 274.13% and a net margin of 32.65%. Verisk Analytics’s quarterly revenue was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.52 EPS. Equities analysts forecast 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 Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.55%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. Verisk Analytics’s payout ratio is presently 24.34%.

Insider Activity at Verisk Analytics

In related news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $286.49, for a total value of $57,298.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 15,608 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,471,535.92. The trade was a 1.27 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Lee Shavel sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $286.49, for a total transaction of $286,490.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 54,163 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,517,157.87. This trade represents a 1.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 2,400 shares of company stock worth $678,764. Insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Verisk Analytics

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in VRSK. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in Verisk Analytics by 899.1% in the 3rd quarter. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 11,919 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,913,000 after acquiring an additional 10,726 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV boosted its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 15.3% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 35,908 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $9,622,000 after purchasing an additional 4,767 shares during the period. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 479.1% in the third quarter. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd now owns 16,853 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,516,000 after purchasing an additional 13,943 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc increased its stake in Verisk Analytics by 5.7% during the 3rd quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 44,290 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $11,868,000 after buying an additional 2,374 shares during the period. Finally, Royal London Asset Management Ltd. lifted its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 16.9% during the 3rd quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 63,217 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $16,940,000 after buying an additional 9,145 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

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.