Verisk Analytics (VRSK) Set to Announce Earnings on Wednesday

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) is scheduled to be announcing its earnings results before the market opens on Wednesday, May 1st. Analysts expect the company to announce earnings of $1.52 per share for the quarter. Verisk Analytics has set its FY 2024 guidance at 6.300-6.600 EPS and its FY24 guidance at $6.30-6.60 EPS.Parties that wish to listen to the company’s conference call can do so using this link.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The business services provider reported $1.40 earnings per share 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%. Verisk Analytics’s quarterly revenue was up 7.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.43 EPS. On average, analysts expect Verisk Analytics to post $6 EPS for the current fiscal year and $7 EPS for the next fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:VRSK opened at $221.85 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $31.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 52.70, a PEG ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.78. Verisk Analytics has a one year low of $187.86 and a one year high of $251.98. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $232.40 and its 200 day simple moving average is $236.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.85, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.05.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a dividend of $0.39 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.70%. This is a positive change from Verisk Analytics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 37.05%.

Verisk Analytics declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 21st that permits the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the business services provider to repurchase up to 2.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO David J. Grover sold 6,481 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $233.06, for a total transaction of $1,510,461.86. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 12,140 shares in the company, valued at $2,829,348.40. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, CAO David J. Grover sold 6,481 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $233.06, for a total transaction of $1,510,461.86. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 12,140 shares in the company, valued at $2,829,348.40. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 1,554 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $222.93, for a total transaction of $346,433.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 51,715 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,528,824.95. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 11,300 shares of company stock worth $2,647,952. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Evercore ISI reiterated an “in-line” rating and issued a $250.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Bank of America downgraded Verisk Analytics from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $270.00 to $260.00 in a report on Monday, January 8th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $252.00.

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.