Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest in the month of November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,660,000 shares, a growth of 46.2% from the October 31st total of 1,820,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 670,700 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 4.0 days. Currently, 1.9% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VRSK has been the topic of several analyst reports. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $275.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. Evercore ISI reaffirmed an “in-line” rating and issued a $279.00 target price on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $282.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $263.00 to $276.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Verisk Analytics from $285.00 to $301.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Six 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 company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Verisk Analytics presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $285.80.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Lee Shavel sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.71, for a total transaction of $280,710.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 53,163 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,923,385.73. This represents a 1.85 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $286.49, for a total transaction of $57,298.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 15,608 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,471,535.92. The trade was a 1.27 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 2,400 shares of company stock valued at $678,764 in the last ninety days. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Verisk Analytics

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC grew its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 6.5% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,618,971 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,237,700,000 after acquiring an additional 283,653 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 7.4% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 1,618,266 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $436,204,000 after purchasing an additional 111,364 shares during the period. TD Asset Management Inc boosted its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 5.5% during the second quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 1,502,614 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $405,030,000 after purchasing an additional 78,008 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in Verisk Analytics by 6.8% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,231,201 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $331,476,000 after acquiring an additional 78,376 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in Verisk Analytics by 8.4% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,103,628 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $297,491,000 after acquiring an additional 85,202 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

NASDAQ VRSK opened at $294.56 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.82. Verisk Analytics has a 1-year low of $217.34 and a 1-year high of $296.58. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $274.83 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $269.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $41.59 billion, a PE ratio of 45.95, a P/E/G ratio of 3.69 and a beta of 0.86.

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

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.39 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.53%. Verisk Analytics’s payout ratio is currently 24.34%.

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.