Short Interest in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) Drops By 19.0%

Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) saw a large decrease in short interest during the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 2,000,000 shares, a decrease of 19.0% from the February 13th total of 2,470,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 765,300 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.6 days. Approximately 1.4% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

Shares of VRSK opened at $288.93 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $40.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89. Verisk Analytics has a twelve month low of $217.34 and a twelve month high of $306.10. 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 company has a 50 day moving average of $288.62 and a two-hundred day moving average of $280.51.

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

Verisk Analytics announced that its board has approved a stock buyback program on Wednesday, February 26th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the business services provider to purchase up to 2.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.45 per share. This is an increase from Verisk Analytics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.62%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Verisk Analytics’s payout ratio is presently 26.87%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VRSK has been the topic of a number of research reports. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $298.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Barclays downgraded 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 note on Friday, January 10th. 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 note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $299.33.

Insider Activity at Verisk Analytics

In other news, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $272.81, for a total transaction of $321,642.99. Following the transaction, 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owns 9,066 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,557,155.96. This trade represents a 18.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 5,648 shares of company stock worth $1,613,047. Insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Verisk Analytics

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Manchester Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 468.8% during the fourth quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 91 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 75 shares during the period. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Roxbury Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Finally, SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter worth $30,000. 90.00% of the stock is currently 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.