Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) Stock Price Expected to Rise, BMO Capital Markets Analyst Says

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) had its price objective boosted by equities researchers at BMO Capital Markets from $263.00 to $276.00 in a note issued to investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “market perform” rating on the business services provider’s stock. BMO Capital Markets’ price target suggests a potential upside of 0.99% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on VRSK. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $275.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $282.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Robert W. Baird increased 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. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $243.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Evercore ISI reissued an “in-line” rating and issued a $279.00 target price on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $281.08.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:VRSK traded down $1.42 on Friday, hitting $273.30. The stock had a trading volume of 210,188 shares, compared to its average volume of 794,093. The company has a market capitalization of $38.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.50 and a beta of 0.86. Verisk Analytics has a twelve month low of $217.34 and a twelve month high of $287.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 0.82. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $268.92 and its 200-day moving average price is $261.87.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last issued 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 net margin of 32.65% and a return on equity of 274.13%. The business had revenue of $725.30 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $722.19 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.52 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that Verisk Analytics will post 6.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Verisk Analytics

In related news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $271.33, for a total transaction of $54,266.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 15,808 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,289,184.64. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Verisk Analytics

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. raised its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 362,915 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $85,550,000 after purchasing an additional 4,147 shares during the period. State of Alaska Department of Revenue increased its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 0.4% in the first quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 15,731 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,708,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Norden Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $1,997,000. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. boosted its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 6.0% in the 1st quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 4,371 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,030,000 after buying an additional 249 shares during the period. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 6.9% during the first quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 23,700 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $5,587,000 after acquiring an additional 1,526 shares in the last quarter. 90.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.