Pacer Advisors Inc. Sells 6,468 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Pacer Advisors Inc. lessened its position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 19.0% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 27,648 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 6,468 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $7,409,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. increased its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. now owns 4,327 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,159,000 after buying an additional 119 shares in the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Verisk Analytics by 26.5% in the third quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 26,204 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $7,022,000 after acquiring an additional 5,493 shares during the period. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. increased its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 111.5% in the third quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 24,681 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $6,614,000 after acquiring an additional 13,010 shares in the last quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp raised its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 2.2% during the third quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp now owns 164,767 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $44,151,000 after purchasing an additional 3,552 shares during the period. Finally, Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI raised its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 2.2% during the third quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 2,025 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $543,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the period. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VRSK has been the subject of a number of research reports. Evercore ISI reissued an “in-line” rating and set a $279.00 target price on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $263.00 to $276.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised 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. Barclays upped their target price 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. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on Verisk Analytics from $285.00 to $301.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $285.80.

Insider Activity

In other Verisk Analytics news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $271.33, for a total value of $54,266.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 15,808 shares in the company, valued at $4,289,184.64. This represents a 1.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Lee Shavel sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.71, for a total value of $280,710.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 53,163 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,923,385.73. The trade was a 1.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 2,400 shares of company stock valued at $678,764. 0.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

VRSK opened at $290.73 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.82. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $272.66 and its 200 day simple moving average is $268.42. The firm has a market capitalization of $41.05 billion, a PE ratio of 45.36, a PEG ratio of 3.60 and a beta of 0.86. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 52-week low of $217.34 and a 52-week high of $291.42.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $725.30 million during 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 firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.52 EPS. As a group, 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 disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 0.54%. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio is presently 24.34%.

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.