Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Boosts Position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 801,150 shares of the business services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 8,262 shares during the quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. owned about 0.57% of Verisk Analytics worth $214,676,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. increased its position in 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 acquiring an additional 119 shares during the period. Intech Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 26.5% in the 3rd quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 26,204 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $7,022,000 after purchasing an additional 5,493 shares during the last quarter. 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 valued at $6,614,000 after purchasing an additional 13,010 shares during the period. King Luther Capital Management Corp raised its stake 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 last quarter. Finally, Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI lifted its holdings 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 hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VRSK has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Verisk Analytics to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $263.00 to $276.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $285.00 to $301.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Verisk Analytics from $243.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on Verisk Analytics from $268.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Six investment 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 MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $285.80.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Verisk Analytics news, CEO Lee Shavel sold 1,000 shares of the firm'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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 54,163 shares of the company's stock, valued at $15,517,157.87. This trade represents a 1.81 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $286.49, for a total transaction of $57,298.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 15,608 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,471,535.92. This trade represents a 1.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 2,400 shares of company stock worth $678,764 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.40% of the company's stock.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

VRSK stock traded up $3.17 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $290.73. 649,777 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 697,556. 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 market cap of $41.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.36, a PEG ratio of 3.64 and a beta of 0.86. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $217.34 and a fifty-two week high of $291.42. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $272.66 and its 200-day moving average price is $268.59.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $1.67 EPS 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 business had revenue of $725.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $722.19 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.52 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Research 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 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.54%. Verisk Analytics's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.