Verisk Analytics, Inc. (VRSK) To Go Ex-Dividend on September 13th

Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, July 24th, Zacks reports. Investors of record on Sunday, September 15th will be paid a dividend of 0.39 per share by the business services provider on Monday, September 30th. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th.

Verisk Analytics has raised its dividend by an average of 8.0% annually over the last three years. Verisk Analytics has a payout ratio of 21.5% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Verisk Analytics to earn $7.21 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.56 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 21.6%.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

Shares of VRSK traded down $7.39 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $266.21. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 211,679 shares, compared to its average volume of 813,614. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $271.94 and its two-hundred day moving average is $253.53. The firm has a market capitalization of $37.91 billion, a PE ratio of 51.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.44 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.86, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 0.95. Verisk Analytics has a one year low of $215.32 and a one year high of $287.13.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The business services provider reported $1.74 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.64 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $716.80 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $722.45 million. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 252.11% and a net margin of 32.03%. Verisk Analytics’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.51 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Verisk Analytics will post 6.56 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Verisk Analytics to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $268.00 target price on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Evercore ISI upped their price target on Verisk Analytics from $250.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 25th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $282.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $268.00 to $285.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $273.54.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $262.31, for a total transaction of $52,462.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 16,608 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,356,444.48. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 326 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $272.22, for a total value of $88,743.72. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 7,470 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,033,483.40. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $262.31, for a total value of $52,462.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 16,608 shares in the company, valued at $4,356,444.48. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 726 shares of company stock worth $196,682. Insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

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.