Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) Receives Consensus Rating of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) have received an average recommendation of “Hold” from the eleven ratings firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have issued a hold recommendation and five have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $306.9091.

A number of analysts recently commented on VRSK shares. Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Wednesday, September 3rd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $320.00 price objective for the company. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Verisk Analytics from $317.00 to $319.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $320.00 to $300.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Raymond James Financial set a $315.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, August 4th.

Insider Activity at Verisk Analytics

In other Verisk Analytics news, Director Christopher John Perry acquired 1,000 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $259.80 per share, for a total transaction of $259,800.00. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 1,773 shares in the company, valued at approximately $460,625.40. This represents a 129.37% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 326 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $300.86, for a total transaction of $98,080.36. Following the transaction, the insider owned 9,319 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,803,714.34. This represents a 3.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 25,621 shares of company stock worth $7,574,943. Corporate insiders own 0.46% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Verisk Analytics

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Osaic Holdings Inc. lifted its stake in Verisk Analytics by 50.6% in the 2nd quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 15,454 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,805,000 after purchasing an additional 5,194 shares during the last quarter. Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC lifted its stake in Verisk Analytics by 6.3% in the 2nd quarter. Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC now owns 13,149 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,096,000 after purchasing an additional 781 shares during the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its stake in Verisk Analytics by 6.1% in the 2nd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 106,308 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $33,115,000 after purchasing an additional 6,097 shares during the last quarter. Promus Capital LLC lifted its stake in Verisk Analytics by 23.9% in the 2nd quarter. Promus Capital LLC now owns 2,329 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $726,000 after purchasing an additional 450 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stance Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,304,000. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

VRSK stock opened at $268.66 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $281.36 and its 200-day moving average is $293.58. The company has a quick ratio of 1.53, a current ratio of 1.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.34. The company has a market cap of $37.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.87 and a beta of 0.86. Verisk Analytics has a twelve month low of $259.01 and a twelve month high of $322.92.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The business services provider reported $1.88 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.77 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $772.60 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $767.91 million. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 460.89% and a net margin of 30.67%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.74 EPS. Verisk Analytics has set its FY 2025 guidance at 6.800-7.000 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Verisk Analytics will post 6.63 EPS for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 15th. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio is currently 27.73%.

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.