Short Interest in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) Rises By 28.5%

Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) saw a large growth in short interest during the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,570,000 shares, a growth of 28.5% from the February 28th total of 2,000,000 shares. Currently, 1.8% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 783,200 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.3 days.

Verisk Analytics Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of Verisk Analytics stock opened at $297.62 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36. The firm has a market cap of $41.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89. Verisk Analytics has a 52-week low of $217.34 and a 52-week high of $306.10. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $291.20 and its 200-day simple moving average is $281.66.

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

Verisk Analytics declared that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Wednesday, February 26th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the business services provider to purchase up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a $0.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.60%. This is an increase from Verisk Analytics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.87%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.06, for a total value of $595,428.66. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 9,066 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,557,155.96. The trade was a 18.89 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 13,786 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,760,958.66. This trade represents a 7.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 5,648 shares of company stock valued at $1,613,047 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Verisk Analytics

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in VRSK. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC boosted its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC now owns 1,213 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $334,000 after buying an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Ascent Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 2,508 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $672,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB grew its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 5.0% in the 4th quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 897 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $247,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares during the period. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group increased its stake in Verisk Analytics by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 974 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $264,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bell Bank raised its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 4.7% during the fourth quarter. Bell Bank now owns 1,005 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $277,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on VRSK. Barclays downgraded Verisk Analytics from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $310.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Friday, January 10th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 price target on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $298.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Verisk Analytics from $283.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $299.33.

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.