Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) Announces Earnings Results

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) issued its earnings results on Wednesday. The business services provider reported $1.63 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.52 by $0.11, Briefing.com reports. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 268.19% and a net margin of 28.45%. The firm had revenue of $704.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $699.07 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.29 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Verisk Analytics updated its FY24 guidance to $6.30-6.60 EPS and its FY 2024 guidance to 6.300-6.600 EPS.

Verisk Analytics Stock Up 1.5 %

NASDAQ VRSK opened at $237.33 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $231.57 and its 200 day simple moving average is $236.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.94, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 1.05. Verisk Analytics has a one year low of $205.70 and a one year high of $251.98. The firm has a market cap of $33.86 billion, a PE ratio of 44.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.79.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Stockholders of record on Saturday, June 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. Verisk Analytics’s payout ratio is 29.10%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Verisk Analytics from $238.00 to $241.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Bank of America cut Verisk Analytics from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $270.00 to $260.00 in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Finally, Evercore ISI reiterated an “in-line” rating and issued a $250.00 target price on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $252.21.

Verisk Analytics declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, February 21st that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the business services provider to repurchase up to 2.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at Verisk Analytics

In other news, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 1,554 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $222.93, for a total transaction of $346,433.22. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 51,715 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,528,824.95. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Verisk Analytics news, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 227 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $237.61, for a total transaction of $53,937.47. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 7,796 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,852,407.56. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 1,554 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $222.93, for a total transaction of $346,433.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 51,715 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,528,824.95. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 11,300 shares of company stock valued at $2,647,952 over the last ninety days. 0.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.