Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) Sees Large Decline in Short Interest

Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) saw a large drop in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,000,000 shares, a drop of 22.2% from the March 15th total of 2,570,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 876,100 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.3 days. Approximately 1.4% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on VRSK. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $298.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating 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 target on the stock. in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Bank of America began coverage on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $280.00 target price for the company. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $300.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $297.40.

Insider Activity at Verisk Analytics

In other Verisk Analytics news, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $295.36, for a total transaction of $348,229.44. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 13,786 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,071,832.96. The trade was a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 300 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $295.38, for a total transaction of $88,614.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 16,665 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,922,507.70. This trade represents a 1.77 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 3,837 shares of company stock valued at $1,121,618 in the last 90 days. 0.46% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of VRSK. Wolf Group Capital Advisors purchased a new position in Verisk Analytics during the 1st quarter worth $275,000. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 1.9% during the first quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC now owns 5,475 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,629,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Louisbourg Investments Inc. bought a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the 1st quarter worth about $25,000. QRG Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in Verisk Analytics by 2.6% in the 1st quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 21,004 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $6,251,000 after buying an additional 523 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sagespring Wealth Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 18.8% during the 1st quarter. Sagespring Wealth Partners LLC now owns 2,432 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $724,000 after buying an additional 384 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Verisk Analytics Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:VRSK opened at $293.02 on Monday. 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 $306.68. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $292.29 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $284.20. The firm has a market cap of $41.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.71, a PEG ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.88.

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

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a dividend of $0.45 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.61%. This is an increase from Verisk Analytics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. Verisk Analytics’s payout ratio is 26.87%.

Verisk Analytics declared that its board has authorized a share buyback plan on Wednesday, February 26th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the business services provider to reacquire up to 2.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

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.