Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) Price Target Raised to $297.00 at BMO Capital Markets

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) had its price target lifted by equities researchers at BMO Capital Markets from $280.00 to $297.00 in a note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “market perform” rating on the business services provider’s stock. BMO Capital Markets’ price objective would suggest a potential upside of 1.94% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other research analysts also recently commented on VRSK. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Verisk Analytics from $283.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $313.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Barclays downgraded Verisk Analytics from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $310.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $298.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $299.78.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

VRSK traded up $3.32 on Thursday, hitting $291.35. 172,154 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 713,384. Verisk Analytics has a 52 week low of $217.34 and a 52 week high of $300.50. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $41.14 billion, a PE ratio of 45.45, a P/E/G ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $283.61 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $277.94.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.01. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 274.13% and a net margin of 32.65%. The firm had revenue of $735.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $733.55 million. On average, research analysts predict that Verisk Analytics will post 6.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics declared that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Wednesday, February 26th that allows the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the business services provider to reacquire up to 2.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 9,066 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,557,155.96. This represents a 18.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $294.95, for a total transaction of $347,746.05. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 13,786 shares in the company, valued at $4,066,180.70. This trade represents a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 4,469 shares of company stock worth $1,264,818. Company insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Verisk Analytics

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in VRSK. Private Advisor Group LLC increased its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 17.5% during the 3rd quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 3,221 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $863,000 after purchasing an additional 479 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Verisk Analytics by 26,695.7% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 31,083 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $8,329,000 after acquiring an additional 30,967 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 18.5% during the third quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 17,103 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,583,000 after purchasing an additional 2,671 shares during the last quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 110.6% in the third quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 1,807 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $484,000 after purchasing an additional 949 shares during the period. Finally, First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. boosted its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 3.0% in the third quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 5,273 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,413,000 after purchasing an additional 153 shares during the period. 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.