Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) Stake Lifted by Daiwa Securities Group Inc.

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) by 17.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 27,769 shares of the business services provider's stock after buying an additional 4,036 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.'s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $7,441,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 899.1% during the 3rd quarter. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 11,919 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $2,913,000 after buying an additional 10,726 shares during the period. KBC Group NV grew its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 15.3% during the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 35,908 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $9,622,000 after buying an additional 4,767 shares during the period. CIBC Asset Management Inc grew its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 5.7% during the 3rd quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 44,290 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $11,868,000 after buying an additional 2,374 shares during the period. Diversified Trust Co purchased a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics during the 2nd quarter valued at $1,325,000. Finally, OFI Invest Asset Management grew its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 2,181.7% during the 2nd quarter. OFI Invest Asset Management now owns 2,875 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $723,000 after buying an additional 2,749 shares during the period. 90.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Verisk Analytics news, CEO Lee Shavel sold 1,000 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 value of $286,490.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 54,163 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,517,157.87. This represents a 1.81 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the company's 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 completion of the transaction, 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 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 quarter. 0.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Verisk Analytics Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of Verisk Analytics stock traded up $3.26 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $294.75. The company had a trading volume of 516,141 shares, compared to its average volume of 784,572. The company has a market cap of $41.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.64 and a beta of 0.86. The firm's fifty day moving average is $273.11 and its 200-day moving average is $268.91. 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, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $217.34 and a fifty-two week high of $296.10.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. The firm had revenue of $725.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $722.19 million. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 32.65% and a return on equity of 274.13%. Verisk Analytics's quarterly revenue was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.52 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.39 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.53%. Verisk Analytics's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.34%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $282.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Robert W. Baird upped their price target 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 set a $279.00 price target on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $243.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $268.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $285.80.

Verisk Analytics 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.