Eastern Bank Makes New $14.11 Million Investment in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Eastern Bank bought a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 52,650 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $14,108,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Global Assets Advisory LLC acquired a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics in the first quarter valued at approximately $11,582,000. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC increased its position in Verisk Analytics by 5.2% during the first quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 3,683 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $868,000 after purchasing an additional 183 shares during the last quarter. Riverview Trust Co acquired a new position in Verisk Analytics during the first quarter worth approximately $40,000. SMI Advisory Services LLC acquired a new position in Verisk Analytics during the first quarter worth approximately $3,893,000. Finally, Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp increased its position in Verisk Analytics by 25.8% during the first quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp now owns 7,159 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,688,000 after purchasing an additional 1,466 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $271.33, for a total value of $54,266.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 15,808 shares in the company, valued at $4,289,184.64. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

Shares of VRSK stock traded down $0.96 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $267.13. The stock had a trading volume of 140,925 shares, compared to its average volume of 798,116. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.86, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.95. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a twelve month low of $215.32 and a twelve month high of $287.13. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $268.99 and a 200-day simple moving average of $260.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $38.11 billion, a PE ratio of 49.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.40 and a beta of 0.86.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The business services provider reported $1.74 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.64 by $0.10. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 32.03% and a return on equity of 252.11%. The business had revenue of $716.80 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $722.45 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.51 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Sunday, September 15th were issued a $0.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 13th. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.58%. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.10%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $275.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Evercore ISI restated an “in-line” rating and issued a $279.00 target price on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $255.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $243.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $268.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $278.67.

Verisk Analytics 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.