Procyon Advisors LLC Buys 58 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Procyon Advisors LLC lifted its position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 3.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,601 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the period. Procyon Advisors LLC’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $441,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 59.0% during the second quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,043 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $551,000 after purchasing an additional 758 shares in the last quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV raised its stake in Verisk Analytics by 6.7% during the 2nd quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 14,344 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,866,000 after buying an additional 906 shares during the period. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. lifted its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 14.9% during the second quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 1,276 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $344,000 after acquiring an additional 165 shares in the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board grew its stake in Verisk Analytics by 21.4% in the second quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 96,137 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $25,914,000 after acquiring an additional 16,925 shares during the period. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 3.5% in the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 34,116 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $9,196,000 after acquiring an additional 1,145 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ VRSK opened at $278.55 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 stock has a 50 day moving average price of $282.19 and a 200 day moving average price of $274.78. The stock has a market capitalization of $39.33 billion, a PE ratio of 43.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.88. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 52 week low of $217.34 and a 52 week high of $296.58.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $1.67 earnings per share 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 analysts’ expectations of $722.19 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.52 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th were given a $0.39 dividend. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.56%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 13th. Verisk Analytics’s payout ratio is presently 24.34%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on VRSK. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $283.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Barclays lowered 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 research note on Friday, January 10th. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $285.00 to $301.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Evercore ISI reaffirmed an “in-line” rating and issued a $279.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $263.00 to $276.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $293.11.

Insider Transactions at Verisk Analytics

In other Verisk Analytics news, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $272.81, for a total transaction of $321,642.99. Following the transaction, the director now owns 13,786 shares in the company, valued at $3,760,958.66. This trade represents a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Lee Shavel sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $286.49, for a total transaction of $286,490.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 54,163 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,517,157.87. The trade was a 1.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 3,379 shares of company stock worth $946,141. 0.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.