Royal Bank of Canada Reaffirms Outperform Rating for Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating reiterated by research analysts at Royal Bank of Canada in a report released on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $300.00 target price on the business services provider’s stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s price target indicates a potential upside of 6.98% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other equities research analysts have also issued reports on VRSK. Barclays upped their price target on Verisk Analytics from $275.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Verisk Analytics from $263.00 to $276.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Evercore ISI reiterated an “in-line” rating and set a $279.00 price target on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $283.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $285.00 to $301.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $293.11.

Verisk Analytics Trading Up 2.5 %

Shares of VRSK stock opened at $280.42 on Tuesday. Verisk Analytics has a fifty-two week low of $217.34 and a fifty-two week high of $296.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.82. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $282.65 and its two-hundred day moving average is $274.55. The firm has a market capitalization of $39.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.75, a PEG ratio of 3.55 and a beta of 0.88.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $1.67 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $722.19 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.52 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Verisk Analytics will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Verisk Analytics

In related news, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $272.81, for a total transaction of $321,642.99. Following the transaction, the director now owns 13,786 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,760,958.66. This represents a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Lee Shavel sold 1,000 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $286.49, for a total value of $286,490.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly 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. In the last quarter, insiders sold 3,579 shares of company stock worth $1,000,407. Insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Verisk Analytics

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in VRSK. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the 3rd quarter valued at about $34,000. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics during the third quarter worth approximately $50,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 101.5% in the third quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC now owns 276 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $74,000 after acquiring an additional 139 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP purchased a new position in Verisk Analytics in the third quarter worth approximately $79,000. Finally, Quent Capital LLC lifted its stake in Verisk Analytics by 418.8% in the third quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 332 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $89,000 after acquiring an additional 268 shares during the last quarter. 90.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.