BMO Capital Markets Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) Stock

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) had its target price raised by BMO Capital Markets from $263.00 to $276.00 in a research report report published on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. BMO Capital Markets currently has a market perform rating on the business services provider’s stock.

A number of other analysts have also recently commented on VRSK. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $268.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Evercore ISI reaffirmed an “in-line” rating and set a $279.00 price target on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Barclays boosted their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $275.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $282.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their price target on Verisk Analytics from $285.00 to $301.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Verisk Analytics has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $281.08.

Verisk Analytics Trading Up 0.3 %

NASDAQ:VRSK traded up $0.76 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $275.48. The company had a trading volume of 1,047,078 shares, compared to its average volume of 609,307. The company has a market capitalization of $38.90 billion, a PE ratio of 42.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 0.86. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $269.07 and a 200 day moving average price of $262.24. Verisk Analytics has a 52 week low of $217.34 and a 52 week high of $287.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.95.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $1.67 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $725.30 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $722.19 million. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 32.65% and a return on equity of 274.13%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.52 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Verisk Analytics will post 6.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a $0.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.57%. Verisk Analytics’s payout ratio is 24.34%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Verisk Analytics news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $271.33, for a total value of $54,266.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 15,808 shares in the company, valued at $4,289,184.64. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Verisk Analytics

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Verisk Analytics during the second quarter valued at about $31,000. Chilton Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the second quarter worth about $34,000. Rothschild Investment LLC acquired a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the second quarter worth about $41,000. Kings Path Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the second quarter worth about $46,000. Finally, Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics in the third quarter worth about $50,000. Institutional investors own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

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.