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

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) had its price objective increased by Robert W. Baird from $298.00 to $320.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “outperform” rating on the business services provider’s stock. Robert W. Baird’s price target would suggest a potential upside of 7.78% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other research firms also recently commented on VRSK. Barclays downgraded Verisk Analytics from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $310.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $283.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 target price on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Verisk Analytics from $263.00 to $276.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Verisk Analytics from $313.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $299.33.

Verisk Analytics Stock Up 2.3 %

VRSK opened at $296.91 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $284.30 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $278.27. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36. The company has a market cap of $41.93 billion, a PE ratio of 46.32, a P/E/G ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89. Verisk Analytics has a 52 week low of $217.34 and a 52 week high of $300.50.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 26th. The business services provider reported $1.61 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.01. The firm 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%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Verisk Analytics will post 6.63 EPS for the current year.

Verisk Analytics declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase program on Wednesday, February 26th that allows the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the business services provider to buy up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Verisk Analytics news, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, January 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.06, for a total transaction of $595,428.66. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 9,066 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,557,155.96. This represents a 18.89 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $272.81, for a total value of $321,642.99. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 13,786 shares in the company, valued at $3,760,958.66. The trade was a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 4,469 shares of company stock valued at $1,264,818 in the last quarter. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in VRSK. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter valued at $526,676,000. Amundi boosted its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 52.4% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 1,252,532 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $351,226,000 after acquiring an additional 430,719 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter valued at $110,094,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 31,634.6% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 394,461 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $108,646,000 after acquiring an additional 393,218 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 8.1% in the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 5,210,080 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,435,012,000 after acquiring an additional 392,270 shares during the last quarter. 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.