National Bank of Canada FI Raises Stock Holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

National Bank of Canada FI raised its position in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) by 57.1% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 136,700 shares of the business services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 49,661 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI owned approximately 0.10% of Verisk Analytics worth $36,630,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in VRSK. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 6.5% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,618,971 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,237,700,000 after acquiring an additional 283,653 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc grew its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 7.4% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 1,618,266 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $436,204,000 after purchasing an additional 111,364 shares during the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc increased its stake in Verisk Analytics by 5.5% in 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. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in 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 valued at $297,491,000 after buying an additional 85,202 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Verisk Analytics by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 801,150 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $214,676,000 after buying an additional 8,262 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 90.00% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on VRSK. BMO Capital Markets raised 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 report on Friday, November 1st. Wells Fargo & Company raised Verisk Analytics to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on 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 restated an "in-line" rating and issued a $279.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased 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. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned 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.

Insider Activity at Verisk Analytics

In related news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $271.33, for a total transaction of $54,266.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 15,808 shares in the company, valued at $4,289,184.64. The trade was a 1.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Lee Shavel sold 1,000 shares of Verisk Analytics 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 54,163 shares of the company's stock, valued at $15,517,157.87. The trade was a 1.81 % 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. Insiders own 0.40% of the company's stock.

Verisk Analytics Stock Down 0.7 %

NASDAQ:VRSK traded down $2.15 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $284.91. 877,970 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 780,930. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a twelve month low of $217.34 and a twelve month high of $296.58. The company has a market capitalization of $40.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.45, a P/E/G ratio of 3.60 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.82. The company has a fifty day moving average of $278.25 and a 200 day moving average of $271.82.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $1.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $725.30 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $722.19 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.52 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. Verisk Analytics's dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.