Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) Given Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) has received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twelve ratings firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $311.00.

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on VRSK shares. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Verisk Analytics to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $317.00 to $319.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Wednesday, September 3rd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $320.00 price target on the stock. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $320.00 to $300.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $340.00 to $334.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, September 17th.

Insider Activity at Verisk Analytics

In other news, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 5,420 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $265.00, for a total transaction of $1,436,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 54,337 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,399,305. This represents a 9.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Lee Shavel sold 1,100 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $268.01, for a total transaction of $294,811.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 78,907 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,147,865.07. This represents a 1.37% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 8,520 shares of company stock worth $2,273,891 over the last three months. 0.46% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Verisk Analytics

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 225.2% during the first quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 14,919 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,440,000 after acquiring an additional 10,331 shares in the last quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 24.1% during the first quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 303,480 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $90,076,000 after purchasing an additional 58,954 shares during the last quarter. Insight Wealth Strategies LLC acquired a new position in Verisk Analytics during the second quarter worth $3,860,000. Dakota Wealth Management boosted its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 24.0% during the second quarter. Dakota Wealth Management now owns 21,745 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $6,774,000 after purchasing an additional 4,206 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Simon Quick Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Verisk Analytics during the first quarter worth $237,000. Institutional investors own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Verisk Analytics Trading Down 1.6%

VRSK opened at $245.07 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.34, a current ratio of 1.53 and a quick ratio of 1.53. The company has a market cap of $34.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.53 and a beta of 0.85. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $261.89 and a 200 day simple moving average of $287.84. Verisk Analytics has a fifty-two week low of $239.83 and a fifty-two week 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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.77 by $0.11. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 30.67% and a return on equity of 460.89%. The business had revenue of $772.60 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $767.91 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.74 earnings per share. Verisk Analytics’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Verisk Analytics has set its FY 2025 guidance at 6.800-7.000 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Verisk Analytics will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 15th were given a dividend of $0.45 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 15th. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. 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.