Insider Selling: Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) CEO Sells 1,000 Shares of Stock

Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) CEO Lee Shavel sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $286.49, for a total transaction of $286,490.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 54,163 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,517,157.87. This trade represents a 1.81 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link.

Lee Shavel also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Monday, November 18th, Lee Shavel sold 1,000 shares of Verisk Analytics stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.71, for a total transaction of $280,710.00.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

NASDAQ VRSK traded down $0.44 on Monday, reaching $280.36. The company had a trading volume of 799,955 shares, compared to its average volume of 788,155. 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 12 month low of $217.34 and a 12 month high of $291.42. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $271.31 and its 200 day moving average price is $267.04. The stock has a market capitalization of $39.59 billion, a PE ratio of 43.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.52 and a beta of 0.86.

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. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 32.65% and a return on equity of 274.13%. The business had revenue of $725.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $722.19 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.52 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Verisk Analytics

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. CIBC Asset Management Inc boosted its position in Verisk Analytics by 5.7% in the 3rd quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 44,290 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $11,868,000 after buying an additional 2,374 shares during the period. KBC Group NV boosted its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 15.3% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 35,908 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $9,622,000 after buying an additional 4,767 shares during the period. Diversified Trust Co acquired a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics in the second quarter valued at approximately $1,325,000. OFI Invest Asset Management raised its position in Verisk Analytics by 2,181.7% during the 2nd quarter. OFI Invest Asset Management now owns 2,875 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $723,000 after buying an additional 2,749 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB acquired a new position in Verisk Analytics during the 1st quarter worth approximately $28,739,000. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have commented on VRSK shares. Evercore ISI reiterated an “in-line” rating and set a $279.00 target price on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $268.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on Verisk Analytics from $285.00 to $301.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $282.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $263.00 to $276.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Six 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.com, Verisk Analytics currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $285.80.

Verisk Analytics Company 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.