Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) Hits New 52-Week High After Dividend Announcement

Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)’s stock price reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Thursday after the company announced a dividend. The company traded as high as $291.97 and last traded at $291.97, with a volume of 937 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $290.04.

The newly announced dividend which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a $0.39 dividend. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio is presently 24.34%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on VRSK. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $282.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Evercore ISI reiterated an “in-line” rating and issued a $279.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Verisk Analytics from $268.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $263.00 to $276.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $275.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $285.80.

Verisk Analytics Stock Down 1.3 %

The firm has a market capitalization of $40.40 billion, a PE ratio of 45.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.61 and a beta of 0.86. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $270.87 and its 200 day moving average is $265.91. 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 (NASDAQ:VRSK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $1.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $725.30 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $722.19 million. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 32.65% and a return on equity of 274.13%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.52 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Verisk Analytics

In other Verisk Analytics news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $271.33, for a total transaction of $54,266.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 15,808 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,289,184.64. This trade represents a 1.25 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Verisk Analytics

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Diversified Trust Co acquired a new position in Verisk Analytics in the 2nd quarter valued at $1,325,000. OFI Invest Asset Management increased its stake in Verisk Analytics by 2,181.7% in the second quarter. OFI Invest Asset Management now owns 2,875 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $723,000 after purchasing an additional 2,749 shares during the last quarter. Twin Tree Management LP purchased a new position in Verisk Analytics during the first quarter worth about $2,340,000. Intech Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Verisk Analytics by 25.8% in the 1st quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 20,825 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,909,000 after buying an additional 4,277 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the 1st quarter valued at about $28,739,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.