MAI Capital Management Sells 2,065 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

MAI Capital Management reduced its holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) by 10.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 18,617 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 2,065 shares during the period. MAI Capital Management's holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $4,988,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 7.4% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 1,618,266 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $436,204,000 after buying an additional 111,364 shares during the period. TD Asset Management Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 5.5% during the 2nd quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 1,502,614 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $405,030,000 after buying an additional 78,008 shares during the period. GUARDCAP ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. GUARDCAP ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd now owns 1,137,069 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $268,041,000 after buying an additional 12,231 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 8.4% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,103,628 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $297,491,000 after buying an additional 85,202 shares during the period. Finally, Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 6.7% during the 2nd quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 613,185 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $165,284,000 after buying an additional 38,258 shares during the period. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Lee Shavel sold 1,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 owns 54,163 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $15,517,157.87. This represents a 1.81 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 directly owns 15,608 shares in the company, valued at $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 valued at $678,764 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.40% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have issued reports on VRSK shares. Evercore ISI reissued an "in-line" rating and issued a $279.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $275.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $268.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $263.00 to $276.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $282.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Six investment 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Verisk Analytics has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $285.80.

Verisk Analytics Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ VRSK traded up $2.56 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $284.20. 507,381 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 787,975. The stock has a market cap of $40.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.56, a PEG ratio of 3.51 and a beta of 0.86. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $271.61 and a 200 day simple moving average of $267.68. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 1-year low of $217.34 and a 1-year high of $291.42. 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 data on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $1.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.07. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 32.65% and a return on equity of 274.13%. The firm had revenue of $725.30 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $722.19 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.52 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a $0.39 dividend. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.55%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. Verisk Analytics's dividend payout ratio is 24.34%.

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.