Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) Releases FY 2024 Earnings Guidance

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) updated its FY 2024 earnings guidance on Wednesday. The company provided EPS guidance of 6.300-6.600 for the period, compared to the consensus EPS estimate of 6.510. The company issued revenue guidance of $2.8 billion-$2.9 billion, compared to the consensus revenue estimate of $2.9 billion. Verisk Analytics also updated its FY24 guidance to $6.30-6.60 EPS.

Verisk Analytics Trading Up 1.5 %

NASDAQ VRSK traded up $3.57 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $237.33. 1,127,556 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,025,848. The firm has a market cap of $33.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.28, a PEG ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.79. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $231.57 and a 200 day simple moving average of $236.03. The company has a current ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.94. Verisk Analytics has a 1-year low of $205.70 and a 1-year high of $251.98.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 1st. The business services provider reported $1.63 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.52 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $704.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $699.07 million. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 28.45% and a return on equity of 268.19%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.29 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Verisk Analytics will post 6.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Shareholders of record on Saturday, June 15th will be paid a $0.39 dividend. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 29.10%.

Verisk Analytics declared that its board has initiated a share buyback program on Wednesday, February 21st that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the business services provider to reacquire up to 2.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on VRSK shares. Evercore ISI reaffirmed an in-line rating and set a $250.00 price target on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Verisk Analytics from $238.00 to $241.00 and gave the stock a market perform rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Bank of America downgraded shares of Verisk Analytics from a buy rating to a neutral rating and reduced their price target for the company from $270.00 to $260.00 in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Verisk Analytics has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $252.21.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 227 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $237.61, for a total transaction of $53,937.47. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 7,796 shares in the company, valued at $1,852,407.56. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 1,554 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $222.93, for a total transaction of $346,433.22. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 51,715 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,528,824.95. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 227 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $237.61, for a total transaction of $53,937.47. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 7,796 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,852,407.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 11,300 shares of company stock valued at $2,647,952. Corporate 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.