Haverford Trust Co Purchases New Position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Haverford Trust Co acquired a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 857 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $230,000.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the 2nd quarter valued at $31,000. Chilton Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the second quarter valued at about $34,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics in the third quarter valued at about $34,000. Rothschild Investment LLC bought a new position in Verisk Analytics during the second quarter worth about $41,000. Finally, Kings Path Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the 2nd quarter worth about $46,000. Institutional investors own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

NASDAQ VRSK opened at $286.13 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $270.87 and a 200 day simple moving average of $265.91. The company has a market cap of $40.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.64, a PEG ratio of 3.64 and a beta of 0.86. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 12-month low of $217.34 and a 12-month high of $291.42.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $1.67 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $725.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $722.19 million. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 32.65% and a return on equity of 274.13%. The firm’s revenue was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.52 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.34%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 in the company, valued at approximately $4,289,184.64. This represents a 1.25 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have commented on the company. Barclays raised their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $275.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $268.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Verisk Analytics to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. Evercore ISI restated an “in-line” rating and set a $279.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $282.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Verisk Analytics has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $285.80.

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.