Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd Buys New Shares in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd acquired a new stake in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 3,113 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $834,000.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Verisk Analytics to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $268.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Barclays lifted their target price on Verisk Analytics from $275.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $282.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Evercore ISI reiterated an "in-line" rating and issued a $279.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $285.80.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

Shares of VRSK traded down $0.19 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $294.56. The company had a trading volume of 482,544 shares, compared to its average volume of 687,697. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 12-month low of $217.34 and a 12-month high of $296.58. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $274.26 and a 200-day simple moving average of $269.42. The company has a market capitalization of $41.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.95, a PEG ratio of 3.70 and a beta of 0.86.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $1.67 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $725.30 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $722.19 million. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 274.13% and a net margin of 32.65%. The company's revenue was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.52 EPS. Research analysts expect that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a $0.39 dividend. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. Verisk Analytics's dividend payout ratio is currently 24.34%.

Insider Transactions at Verisk Analytics

In related news, CEO Lee Shavel sold 1,000 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.71, for a total transaction of $280,710.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 53,163 shares in the company, valued at $14,923,385.73. The trade was a 1.85 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The shares were 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 in the company, 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 sold 2,400 shares of company stock valued at $678,764 in the last 90 days. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.