Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) Insider Kathy Card Beckles Sells 2,111 Shares of Stock

Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.06, for a total value of $595,428.66. Following the sale, the insider now owns 9,066 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,557,155.96. This trade represents a 18.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link.

Verisk Analytics Stock Up 0.5 %

Verisk Analytics stock opened at $280.06 on Wednesday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $282.06 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $274.84. 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 company has a market cap of $39.55 billion, a PE ratio of 43.69, a PEG ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 0.88. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $217.34 and a fifty-two week high of $296.58.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $1.67 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $725.30 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $722.19 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.52 EPS. Verisk Analytics’s quarterly revenue was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

VRSK has been the subject of several analyst reports. Evercore ISI reissued an “in-line” rating and set a $279.00 price target on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Robert W. Baird raised their target price 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 upped their price target 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. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $300.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Verisk Analytics from $283.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Six investment 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 company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $293.11.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Verisk Analytics

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. lifted its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 14.9% in the second quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 1,276 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $344,000 after acquiring an additional 165 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 21.4% during the 2nd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 96,137 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $25,914,000 after purchasing an additional 16,925 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 3.5% in the 2nd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 34,116 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $9,196,000 after purchasing an additional 1,145 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co. grew its position in Verisk Analytics by 3.0% during the second quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 224,110 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $60,410,000 after buying an additional 6,511 shares during the period. Finally, Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Verisk Analytics in the second quarter valued at $801,000. 90.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.