Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) Given New $297.00 Price Target at BMO Capital Markets

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) had its price target hoisted by investment analysts at BMO Capital Markets from $280.00 to $297.00 in a research note issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “market perform” rating on the business services provider’s stock. BMO Capital Markets’ price objective indicates a potential upside of 1.94% from the stock’s current price.

Several other analysts also recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $283.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $313.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $298.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Barclays cut shares of Verisk Analytics from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $310.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $300.00 target price on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Verisk Analytics presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $299.78.

Verisk Analytics Trading Up 1.2 %

NASDAQ:VRSK traded up $3.32 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $291.35. 172,154 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 713,384. The company has a fifty day moving average of $283.61 and a 200 day moving average of $277.94. Verisk Analytics has a 12 month low of $217.34 and a 12 month high of $300.50. 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 market capitalization of $41.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.45, a PEG ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 26th. The business services provider reported $1.61 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.01. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 32.65% and a return on equity of 274.13%. The business had revenue of $735.60 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $733.55 million. On average, research analysts predict that Verisk Analytics will post 6.63 EPS for the current year.

Verisk Analytics announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Wednesday, February 26th that allows the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the business services provider to purchase up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.06, for a total transaction of $595,428.66. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 9,066 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,557,155.96. This represents a 18.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 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 value of $321,642.99. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 13,786 shares in the company, valued at $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. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 4,469 shares of company stock valued at $1,264,818. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Verisk Analytics

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in VRSK. Manchester Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 468.8% in the 4th quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 91 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter worth $28,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Roxbury Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. Institutional investors 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.