Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) Sets New 1-Year High – Here’s What Happened

Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) hit a new 52-week high during trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $306.29 and last traded at $304.50, with a volume of 343545 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $299.71.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have weighed in on VRSK. Barclays lowered shares of Verisk Analytics from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $310.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Friday, January 10th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $297.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $298.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Verisk Analytics from $283.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 price target on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $299.33.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

The company has a fifty day moving average of $292.64 and a 200-day moving average of $282.26. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36. The stock has a market cap of $39.98 billion, a PE ratio of 44.46, a P/E/G ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.88.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The business services provider reported $1.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $735.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $733.55 million. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 32.65% and a return on equity of 274.13%. Sell-side analysts expect that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a dividend of $0.45 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Verisk Analytics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.63%. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio is 26.87%.

Verisk Analytics declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, February 26th that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the business services provider to reacquire up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $295.36, for a total transaction of $348,229.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 13,786 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,071,832.96. The trade was a 7.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.06, for a total transaction of $595,428.66. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 9,066 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,557,155.96. This trade represents a 18.89 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 5,648 shares of company stock worth $1,613,047 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Verisk Analytics

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of VRSK. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 880.0% in the first quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 490 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $146,000 after buying an additional 440 shares during the last quarter. First Hawaiian Bank boosted its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 3.0% during the 1st quarter. First Hawaiian Bank now owns 9,974 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,968,000 after acquiring an additional 292 shares in the last quarter. Marcum Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics in the 1st quarter valued at about $202,000. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB raised its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 21.3% during the 1st quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 455 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $135,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. Finally, 111 Capital purchased a new stake in Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter worth approximately $317,000. 90.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.