Banque Cantonale Vaudoise Boosts Stock Position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Banque Cantonale Vaudoise grew its stake in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) by 332.5% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 12,383 shares of the business services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 9,520 shares during the quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise's holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $3,318,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 292.4% during the 1st quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 5,827 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,374,000 after acquiring an additional 4,342 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 109.2% in the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 12,729 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $3,000,000 after purchasing an additional 6,645 shares during the last quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the first quarter valued at about $266,000. MQS Management LLC bought a new stake in Verisk Analytics during the first quarter worth about $226,000. Finally, Crewe Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Verisk Analytics during the first quarter worth about $49,000. Institutional investors own 90.00% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Verisk Analytics

In related news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the company'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 $57,298.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 15,608 shares in the company, valued at $4,471,535.92. This represents a 1.27 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Lee Shavel sold 1,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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. This trade represents a 1.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 2,400 shares of company stock valued at $678,764 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.40% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have weighed in on VRSK shares. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $243.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $263.00 to $276.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Verisk Analytics from $268.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $282.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Verisk Analytics to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $285.80.

Verisk Analytics Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of VRSK traded up $2.56 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $284.20. 427,868 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 787,975. The firm has a market cap of $40.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.34, a P/E/G ratio of 3.51 and a beta of 0.86. 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 fifty day simple moving average of $271.86 and a 200 day simple moving average of $267.79. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 52-week low of $217.34 and a 52-week high of $291.42.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly 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. 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%. Verisk Analytics's revenue was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.52 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

The firm 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 $0.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.55%. Verisk Analytics's dividend payout ratio is currently 24.34%.

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.