Blue Trust Inc. Grows Position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Blue Trust Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSKFree Report) by 30.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,619 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 613 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc.’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $702,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. FMR LLC increased its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 6.5% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,618,971 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,237,700,000 after buying an additional 283,653 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 6.8% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,231,201 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $331,476,000 after acquiring an additional 78,376 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 801,150 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $214,676,000 after acquiring an additional 8,262 shares in the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP lifted its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 46.7% during the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 614,831 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $164,750,000 after purchasing an additional 195,700 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James & Associates boosted its position in Verisk Analytics by 1.9% during the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 385,195 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $103,217,000 after purchasing an additional 7,098 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $285.00 to $301.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Evercore ISI reissued an “in-line” rating and set a $279.00 target price on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Barclays lowered shares of Verisk Analytics from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $310.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Friday, January 10th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $263.00 to $276.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $300.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $293.11.

Check Out Our Latest Research Report on Verisk Analytics

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

Shares of VRSK stock opened at $282.59 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $281.60 and a 200 day moving average of $275.06. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 1 year low of $217.34 and a 1 year high of $296.58. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $39.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 0.88.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSKGet Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $1.67 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.07. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 274.13% and a net margin of 32.65%. The firm had revenue of $725.30 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $722.19 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.52 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity

In other Verisk Analytics news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $286.49, for a total value of $57,298.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 15,608 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,471,535.92. The trade was a 1.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 9,066 shares in the company, valued at $2,557,155.96. The trade was a 18.89 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 5,490 shares of company stock valued at $1,541,570 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Verisk Analytics Profile

(Free Report)

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.

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Institutional Ownership by Quarter for Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK)

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