Verition Fund Management LLC Reduces Position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Verition Fund Management LLC reduced its holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 9.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 22,768 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 2,395 shares during the period. Verition Fund Management LLC’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $6,101,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of VRSK. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Verisk Analytics by 29.5% during the first quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 1,623 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $383,000 after buying an additional 370 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 166.1% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 54,515 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $12,851,000 after acquiring an additional 34,032 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 353.0% in the first quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 13,200 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,112,000 after purchasing an additional 10,286 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 19.0% in the first quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 263 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $57,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares during the period. Finally, Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in Verisk Analytics by 2.8% during the second quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,070 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,097,000 after purchasing an additional 109 shares during the last quarter. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Verisk Analytics

In related news, CEO Lee Shavel sold 1,000 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.71, for a total transaction of $280,710.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 53,163 shares in the company, valued at $14,923,385.73. This trade represents a 1.85 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 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. This trade represents a 1.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 2,400 shares of company stock valued at $678,764. Corporate insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Verisk Analytics Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of Verisk Analytics stock opened at $292.70 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 52-week low of $217.34 and a 52-week high of $296.58. The company has a market capitalization of $41.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.66, a P/E/G ratio of 3.69 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a 50 day moving average of $275.42 and a 200 day moving average of $270.24.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 business 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 company’s revenue was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.52 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a $0.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.53%. Verisk Analytics’s payout ratio is currently 24.34%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $285.00 to $301.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $263.00 to $276.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Verisk Analytics to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. Evercore ISI reiterated an “in-line” rating and set a $279.00 price target on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective 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. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Verisk Analytics has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $285.80.

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.