Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) Shares Gap Up to $266.66

Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)’s stock price gapped up prior to trading on Monday . The stock had previously closed at $266.66, but opened at $272.71. Verisk Analytics shares last traded at $262.26, with a volume of 244,179 shares trading hands.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $268.00 target price on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Verisk Analytics from $243.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. UBS Group raised their price target on Verisk Analytics from $255.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $250.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 25th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $282.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Verisk Analytics has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $267.77.

Verisk Analytics Stock Down 0.2 %

The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $269.40 and a 200 day moving average price of $249.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $37.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.68, a PEG ratio of 3.28 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.86, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a current ratio of 0.95.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The business services provider reported $1.74 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.64 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $716.80 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $722.45 million. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 32.03% and a return on equity of 252.11%. The business’s revenue was up 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.51 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Sunday, September 15th will be given a dividend of $0.39 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.60%. Verisk Analytics’s payout ratio is 29.10%.

Insider Transactions at Verisk Analytics

In other news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $262.31, for a total value of $52,462.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 16,608 shares in the company, valued at $4,356,444.48. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction on Monday, June 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $262.31, for a total value of $52,462.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 16,608 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,356,444.48. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 1,511 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $248.88, for a total value of $376,057.68. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 52,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,066,200. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 2,237 shares of company stock valued at $572,739 in the last quarter. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of VRSK. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new position in Verisk Analytics in the first quarter valued at about $28,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Verisk Analytics in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $31,000. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter valued at $32,000. DSM Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. Finally, Chilton Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics during the second quarter valued at approximately $34,000. 90.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.