Robert W. Baird Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) Stock

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) had its target price lifted by equities research analysts at Robert W. Baird from $285.00 to $301.00 in a research note issued on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “outperform” rating on the business services provider’s stock. Robert W. Baird’s price target suggests a potential upside of 9.26% from the stock’s previous close.

VRSK has been the subject of several other reports. UBS Group upped their target price on Verisk Analytics from $255.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Barclays upped their price objective 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. Morgan Stanley raised their target price 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. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $282.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $268.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Six 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $281.08.

Verisk Analytics Trading Up 0.3 %

NASDAQ VRSK opened at $275.48 on Thursday. Verisk Analytics has a 12 month low of $217.34 and a 12 month high of $287.13. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $269.07 and its 200-day moving average price is $262.24. The stock has a market cap of $39.23 billion, a PE ratio of 42.98, a PEG ratio of 3.50 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $1.67 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $725.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $722.19 million. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 32.65% and a return on equity of 274.13%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.52 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Verisk Analytics will post 6.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Verisk Analytics news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $271.33, for a total value of $54,266.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 15,808 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,289,184.64. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Verisk Analytics

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Legal & General Group Plc raised its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 7.4% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 1,618,266 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $436,204,000 after purchasing an additional 111,364 shares during the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 5.5% in the 2nd quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 1,502,614 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $405,030,000 after buying an additional 78,008 shares during the period. GUARDCAP ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 1.1% in the first quarter. GUARDCAP ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd now owns 1,137,069 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $268,041,000 after buying an additional 12,231 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 8.4% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,103,628 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $297,491,000 after acquiring an additional 85,202 shares during the period. Finally, Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC raised its position in Verisk Analytics by 6.7% during the second quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 613,185 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $165,284,000 after acquiring an additional 38,258 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

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.