Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) Shares Bought by KBC Group NV

KBC Group NV lifted its position in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 15.3% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 35,908 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,767 shares during the quarter. KBC Group NV’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $9,622,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Chilton Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $34,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Rothschild Investment LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the second quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Finally, Kings Path Partners LLC acquired a new position in Verisk Analytics during the second quarter worth $46,000. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have commented on VRSK shares. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Verisk Analytics from $263.00 to $276.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $282.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $268.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on Verisk Analytics from $285.00 to $301.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised Verisk Analytics to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $285.80.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

VRSK stock opened at $280.80 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $271.31 and its 200 day moving average price is $266.46. The firm has a market cap of $39.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.81, a PEG ratio of 3.59 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.82. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 1 year low of $217.34 and a 1 year high of $291.42.

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

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.39 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.56%. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.34%.

Insider Activity

In other Verisk Analytics news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 15,808 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,289,184.64. The trade was a 1.25 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 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.