Verisk Analytics’ (VRSK) “Outperform” Rating Reiterated at Royal Bank of Canada

Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed their outperform rating on shares of Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) in a report published on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $300.00 price objective on the business services provider’s stock.

VRSK has been the topic of several other research reports. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $275.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $283.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Evercore ISI restated an “in-line” rating and issued a $279.00 price target on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $263.00 to $276.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Verisk Analytics from $285.00 to $301.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Verisk Analytics currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $293.11.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

Verisk Analytics stock opened at $280.42 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36. Verisk Analytics has a 52-week low of $217.34 and a 52-week high of $296.58. The firm has a market cap of $39.60 billion, a PE ratio of 43.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.55 and a beta of 0.88. The company’s 50 day moving average is $282.76 and its two-hundred day moving average is $274.59.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $1.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.07. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 274.13% and a net margin of 32.65%. The firm had revenue of $725.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $722.19 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.52 earnings per share. Verisk Analytics’s revenue was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Verisk Analytics will post 6.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th were given a dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.56%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 13th. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.34%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 7th. The shares were 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 owns 13,786 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,760,958.66. This represents a 7.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $4,471,535.92. The trade was a 1.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 3,579 shares of company stock valued at $1,000,407. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Verisk Analytics

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Caprock Group LLC grew its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 137.6% during the second quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 6,275 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,691,000 after acquiring an additional 3,634 shares during the period. Choreo LLC purchased a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics in the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,211,000. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 7.8% in the second quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 23,733 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $6,397,000 after purchasing an additional 1,713 shares during the period. Malaga Cove Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Verisk Analytics during the second quarter worth about $223,000. Finally, Angeles Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Verisk Analytics during the second quarter worth about $249,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

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.