Stonehage Fleming Financial Services Holdings Ltd Reduces Position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Stonehage Fleming Financial Services Holdings Ltd lessened its stake in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 2.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 642,364 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 15,466 shares during the quarter. Verisk Analytics accounts for approximately 5.0% of Stonehage Fleming Financial Services Holdings Ltd’s holdings, making the stock its 7th biggest position. Stonehage Fleming Financial Services Holdings Ltd’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $176,926,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Marshall Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Marshall Financial Group LLC now owns 4,932 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,322,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the period. Signaturefd LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 2,586 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $693,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the period. Ascent Group LLC increased its stake in Verisk Analytics by 1.8% in the second quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 2,465 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $664,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the period. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC raised its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 0.8% during the third quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 5,109 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,369,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI raised its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 2.2% in the third quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 2,025 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $543,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. 90.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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 sale, the chief financial officer now owns 15,608 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,471,535.92. The trade was a 1.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Lee Shavel sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $286.49, for a total value of $286,490.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 54,163 shares in the company, valued at $15,517,157.87. This trade represents a 1.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 5,490 shares of company stock valued at $1,541,570 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VRSK has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Evercore ISI restated an “in-line” rating and set a $279.00 target price on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 price target on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $283.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Barclays downgraded 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. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $263.00 to $276.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $293.11.

Verisk Analytics Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ VRSK opened at $278.93 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $39.39 billion, a PE ratio of 43.51, a P/E/G ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 12-month low of $217.34 and a 12-month high of $296.58. The company has a 50-day moving average of $281.49 and a 200 day moving average of $274.97.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $1.67 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $725.30 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 for the quarter was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.52 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.56%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 13th. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.34%.

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.