Morgan Stanley Issues Positive Forecast for Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) Stock Price

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

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

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

Shares of VRSK opened at $285.30 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.82. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $278.96 and a 200-day moving average price of $272.16. Verisk Analytics has a fifty-two week low of $217.34 and a fifty-two week high of $296.58. The stock has a market capitalization of $40.29 billion, a PE ratio of 44.51, a PEG ratio of 3.57 and a beta of 0.87.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $1.67 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $725.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $722.19 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.52 earnings per share. Verisk Analytics’s revenue was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict 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. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a dividend of $0.39 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.55%. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio is currently 24.34%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verisk Analytics

In other Verisk Analytics news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 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 $57,298.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 15,608 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,471,535.92. This trade represents a 1.27 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Lee Shavel sold 1,000 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 $286,490.00. Following the completion of 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. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 2,400 shares of company stock worth $678,764. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. FMR LLC grew its position in Verisk Analytics by 6.5% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,618,971 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,237,700,000 after buying an additional 283,653 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc grew its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 7.4% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 1,618,266 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $436,204,000 after acquiring an additional 111,364 shares during the period. TD Asset Management Inc grew its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 5.5% during the 2nd quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 1,502,614 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $405,030,000 after acquiring an additional 78,008 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 6.8% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,231,201 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $331,476,000 after purchasing an additional 78,376 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 8.4% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,103,628 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $297,491,000 after purchasing an additional 85,202 shares during the period. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.