Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) to Issue Dividend Increase – $0.45 Per Share

Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, February 26th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of 0.45 per share by the business services provider on Monday, March 31st. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.62%. This is a positive change from Verisk Analytics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39.

Verisk Analytics has increased its dividend by an average of 10.4% annually over the last three years. Verisk Analytics has a payout ratio of 19.3% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Verisk Analytics to earn $7.25 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.56 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 21.5%.

Verisk Analytics Stock Down 3.9 %

VRSK stock opened at $288.03 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.82. The stock has a market capitalization of $40.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.93, a P/E/G ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89. The business has a 50-day moving average of $283.61 and a 200-day moving average of $277.94. Verisk Analytics has a fifty-two week low of $217.34 and a fifty-two 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 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.01. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 274.13% and a net margin of 32.65%. The company had revenue of $735.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $733.55 million. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Verisk Analytics will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, February 26th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the business services provider to buy up to 2.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently issued reports on VRSK shares. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Verisk Analytics from $283.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $263.00 to $276.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Barclays lowered Verisk Analytics from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $310.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $313.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $285.00 to $301.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $295.33.

Insider Transactions at Verisk Analytics

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