Pacer Advisors Inc. Grows Position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) by 23.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 34,149 shares of the business services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 6,501 shares during the quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc.'s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $9,406,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter worth $28,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new position in Verisk Analytics during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $50,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 101.5% in the third quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC now owns 276 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $74,000 after acquiring an additional 139 shares during the period. Finally, Quarry LP bought a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the 3rd quarter worth about $79,000. Institutional investors own 90.00% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective 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. Royal Bank of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and set a $300.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $285.00 to $301.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $283.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Evercore ISI reissued 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, two have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $293.11.

Verisk Analytics Stock Up 1.9 %

Shares of VRSK traded up $5.49 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $288.08. The company's stock had a trading volume of 644,913 shares, compared to its average volume of 720,806. The company's 50-day moving average is $281.57 and its 200-day moving average is $275.11. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36. The firm has a market capitalization of $40.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.94, a PEG ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 0.88. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 52-week low of $217.34 and a 52-week high of $296.58.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $1.67 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 analyst estimates of $722.19 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.52 EPS. Verisk Analytics's revenue was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th were given a dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.54%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 13th. Verisk Analytics's dividend payout ratio is currently 24.34%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verisk Analytics

In other news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $286.49, for a total value of $57,298.00. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, 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 value of $286,490.00. Following the completion of the sale, 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 5,490 shares of company stock worth $1,541,570. 0.40% of the stock is 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.