Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) Lowered to Equal Weight Rating by Barclays

Barclays downgraded shares of Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating in a research note released on Friday, MarketBeat.com reports. They currently have $310.00 price target on the business services provider’s stock.

A number of other brokerages also recently weighed in on VRSK. Evercore ISI reiterated an “in-line” rating and issued a $279.00 price target on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 price target on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Tuesday. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $285.00 to $301.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $283.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Verisk Analytics from $263.00 to $276.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $293.11.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

Shares of VRSK stock opened at $268.63 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $282.62 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $274.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.82. Verisk Analytics has a 52-week low of $217.34 and a 52-week high of $296.58. The stock has a market cap of $37.93 billion, a PE ratio of 41.91, a PEG ratio of 3.55 and a beta of 0.88.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $1.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.07. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 274.13% and a net margin of 32.65%. The business had revenue of $725.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $722.19 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.52 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Verisk Analytics will post 6.63 EPS for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th were given a dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.58%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 13th. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 24.34%.

Insider Activity

In other Verisk Analytics news, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of Verisk Analytics 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 sale, the director now directly owns 13,786 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,760,958.66. The trade was a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Lee Shavel sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $286.49, for a total transaction of $286,490.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 54,163 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,517,157.87. This represents a 1.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 3,579 shares of company stock worth $1,000,407 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Verisk Analytics

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in VRSK. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics during the 3rd quarter worth about $34,000. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the 3rd quarter valued at about $50,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Verisk Analytics by 101.5% in the 3rd quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC now owns 276 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $74,000 after purchasing an additional 139 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quarry LP bought a new position in Verisk Analytics during the third quarter worth about $79,000. Institutional investors 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.