Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) Sets New 1-Year High – Here’s Why

Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)’s share price reached a new 52-week high on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $296.58 and last traded at $295.79, with a volume of 226396 shares. The stock had previously closed at $293.06.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on VRSK. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $300.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on Verisk Analytics from $285.00 to $301.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Verisk Analytics from $283.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Barclays cut shares of Verisk Analytics from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $310.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Verisk Analytics from $263.00 to $276.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $293.11.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

The company has a market cap of $41.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.39 and a beta of 0.89. 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 company has a fifty day moving average price of $281.49 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $276.04.

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th were issued a $0.39 dividend. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 13th. Verisk Analytics’s payout ratio is currently 24.34%.

Insider Activity at Verisk Analytics

In related news, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 17th. The stock was 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 owns 9,066 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,557,155.96. This trade represents a 18.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $272.81, for a total transaction of $321,642.99. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 13,786 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,760,958.66. This represents a 7.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 6,669 shares of company stock valued at $1,889,316 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Procyon Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 4.0% during the 3rd quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC now owns 1,543 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $413,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Creative Planning increased its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 17,343 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,647,000 after purchasing an additional 340 shares during the last quarter. Hengehold Capital Management LLC raised its position in Verisk Analytics by 5.1% in the third quarter. Hengehold Capital Management LLC now owns 1,358 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $364,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares during the period. Bleakley Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in Verisk Analytics by 3.6% in the third quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 4,083 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,094,000 after purchasing an additional 143 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Financial Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Marshall Financial Group LLC now owns 4,932 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,322,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.00% 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.