Citigroup Inc. Sells 11,164 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Citigroup Inc. reduced its stake in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) by 5.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 211,911 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 11,164 shares during the period. Citigroup Inc. owned 0.15% of Verisk Analytics worth $56,784,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the second quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Chilton Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the 2nd quarter valued at $34,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new stake in Verisk Analytics during the 3rd quarter valued at $34,000. Rothschild Investment LLC acquired a new position in Verisk Analytics during the second quarter worth $41,000. Finally, Kings Path Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics in the second quarter valued at $46,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.00% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Verisk Analytics news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $286.49, for a total value of $57,298.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 15,608 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,471,535.92. This trade represents a 1.27 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Lee Shavel sold 1,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.71, for a total value of $280,710.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 53,163 shares of the company's stock, valued at $14,923,385.73. The trade was a 1.85 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 2,400 shares of company stock worth $678,764 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.40% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $268.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $282.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Barclays increased their price target on Verisk Analytics from $275.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective 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. Finally, 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 report on Wednesday, July 31st. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Verisk Analytics has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $285.80.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

VRSK traded up $3.17 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $290.73. The company had a trading volume of 649,777 shares, compared to its average volume of 697,556. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 12-month low of $217.34 and a 12-month high of $291.42. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $272.66 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $268.42. The stock has a market cap of $41.05 billion, a PE ratio of 45.36, a P/E/G ratio of 3.64 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.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 274.13% and a net margin of 32.65%. The business had revenue of $725.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $722.19 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.52 earnings per share. Verisk Analytics's revenue was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, 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 firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.39 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.54%. Verisk Analytics's payout ratio is 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.