Fmr LLC Has $1.24 Billion Stock Position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) by 6.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 4,618,971 shares of the business services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 283,653 shares during the period. FMR LLC owned approximately 3.27% of Verisk Analytics worth $1,237,700,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VRSK. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics during the 2nd quarter worth $31,000. Chilton Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics in the second quarter worth about $34,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Rothschild Investment LLC bought a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Finally, Kings Path Partners LLC acquired a new position in Verisk Analytics during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $46,000. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, 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 transaction of $280,710.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 53,163 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,923,385.73. This represents a 1.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale 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 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 value of $57,298.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 15,608 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,471,535.92. This represents a 1.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 2,400 shares of company stock worth $678,764. Corporate insiders own 0.40% of the company's stock.

Verisk Analytics Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of VRSK traded down $0.19 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $294.56. 482,544 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 783,417. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $217.34 and a fifty-two week high of $296.58. The business has a 50-day moving average of $274.26 and a 200-day moving average of $269.42. The firm has a market capitalization of $41.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.65 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.82.

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, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.07. The firm 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%. The business's revenue was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.52 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on VRSK. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $263.00 to $276.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Verisk Analytics from $243.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. 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. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $282.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $285.80.

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.