Wells Fargo & Company Lowers Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) Price Target to $321.00

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) had its price target lowered by Wells Fargo & Company from $325.00 to $321.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “overweight” rating on the business services provider’s stock. Wells Fargo & Company‘s price target suggests a potential upside of 8.11% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other brokerages have also recently weighed in on VRSK. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $298.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. 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. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $297.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Morgan Stanley upped their target price 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, Barclays lowered 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. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Verisk Analytics has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $299.33.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

NASDAQ:VRSK opened at $296.91 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $41.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36. The company’s 50-day moving average is $284.30 and its two-hundred day moving average is $278.27. Verisk Analytics has a 12-month low of $217.34 and a 12-month high of $300.50.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 26th. The business services provider reported $1.61 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $735.60 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $733.55 million. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 274.13% and a net margin of 32.65%. Research analysts expect that Verisk Analytics will post 6.63 EPS for the current year.

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

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.06, for a total transaction of $595,428.66. Following the completion of the sale, 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $294.95, for a total transaction of $347,746.05. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 13,786 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,066,180.70. This represents a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 4,469 shares of company stock worth $1,264,818 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Verisk Analytics

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Manchester Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 468.8% during the 4th quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 91 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter worth $28,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter worth $28,000. Roxbury Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter worth $29,000. Finally, SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. Hedge funds and other 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.