Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) Hits New 1-Year High Following Dividend Announcement

Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) shares reached a new 52-week high during trading on Thursday after the company announced a dividend. The company traded as high as $291.97 and last traded at $291.97, with a volume of 937 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $290.04.

The newly announced dividend which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a $0.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.55%. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.34%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VRSK has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $268.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $282.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Evercore ISI reaffirmed an “in-line” rating and issued a $279.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $275.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Verisk Analytics to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Verisk Analytics has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $285.80.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.82. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $270.87 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $265.91. The stock has a market cap of $40.40 billion, a PE ratio of 45.25, a PEG ratio of 3.61 and a beta of 0.86.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $1.67 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.07. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 32.65% and a return on equity of 274.13%. The business had revenue of $725.30 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $722.19 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.52 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verisk Analytics

In other Verisk Analytics news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $271.33, for a total transaction of $54,266.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 15,808 shares in the company, valued at $4,289,184.64. The trade was a 1.25 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Verisk Analytics

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Verisk Analytics during the 2nd quarter valued at $31,000. Chilton Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Verisk Analytics in the second quarter worth about $34,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the third quarter valued at about $34,000. Rothschild Investment LLC bought a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the second quarter valued at about $41,000. Finally, Kings Path Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Verisk Analytics during the second quarter valued at approximately $46,000. 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.