Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) Sees Significant Decrease in Short Interest

Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) saw a significant drop in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,190,000 shares, a drop of 22.9% from the March 15th total of 2,840,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 869,100 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.5 days. Approximately 1.5% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Verisk Analytics Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of VRSK opened at $222.53 on Friday. Verisk Analytics has a 12 month low of $187.86 and a 12 month high of $251.98. The stock has a market cap of $31.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.86, a P/E/G ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $237.88 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $237.73. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.85.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The business services provider reported $1.40 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.44 by ($0.04). Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 305.15% and a net margin of 22.92%. The company had revenue of $677.20 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $673.56 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.43 EPS. Verisk Analytics’s quarterly revenue was up 7.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Verisk Analytics will post 6.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were given a dividend of $0.39 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.70%. This is a boost from Verisk Analytics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 37.05%.

Verisk Analytics announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program on Wednesday, February 21st that permits the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the business services provider to purchase up to 2.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on VRSK shares. Evercore ISI reaffirmed an “in-line” rating and set a $250.00 target price on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Bank of America lowered shares of Verisk Analytics from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $270.00 to $260.00 in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Verisk Analytics has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $252.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verisk Analytics

In other news, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 1,507 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.25, for a total value of $375,619.75. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 50,208 shares in the company, valued at $12,514,344. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 1,507 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.25, for a total value of $375,619.75. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 50,208 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,514,344. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO David J. Grover sold 6,481 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $233.06, for a total value of $1,510,461.86. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 12,140 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,829,348.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 9,771 shares of company stock worth $2,307,406 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 1.31% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Verisk Analytics

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of VRSK. Morgan Stanley grew its position in Verisk Analytics by 248.2% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,765,708 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $664,346,000 after acquiring an additional 2,684,234 shares during the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. boosted its stake in Verisk Analytics by 1,404.8% in the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 1,992,727 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $470,762,000 after purchasing an additional 1,860,298 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter worth $374,530,000. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 90.5% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,141,516 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $272,663,000 after purchasing an additional 542,432 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 35.4% in the fourth quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 1,865,533 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $445,601,000 after buying an additional 487,335 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.