Pitcairn Co. Decreases Position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Pitcairn Co. trimmed its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) by 31.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,137 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 3,664 shares during the quarter. Pitcairn Co.'s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $2,180,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in VRSK. Marshall Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Marshall Financial Group LLC now owns 4,932 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,322,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC lifted its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 2,586 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $693,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Brookstone Capital Management lifted its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 3,517 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $982,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 19.0% in the 1st quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 263 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $57,000 after acquiring an additional 42 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ascent Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 2,465 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $664,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

Verisk Analytics stock traded up $3.17 during trading on Friday, reaching $290.73. The company had a trading volume of 649,777 shares, compared to its average volume of 697,556. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 52 week low of $217.34 and a 52 week high of $291.42. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $272.66 and its 200 day simple moving average is $268.42. The firm has a market capitalization of $41.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.64 and a beta of 0.86. 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 (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 for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $725.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $722.19 million. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 274.13% and a net margin of 32.65%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.52 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Lee Shavel sold 1,000 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.71, for a total value of $280,710.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 53,163 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,923,385.73. This trade represents a 1.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $271.33, for a total transaction of $54,266.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 15,808 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,289,184.64. The trade was a 1.25 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 2,400 shares of company stock worth $678,764. Corporate insiders own 0.40% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on VRSK shares. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Verisk Analytics from $263.00 to $276.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Wells Fargo & Company raised Verisk Analytics to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Verisk Analytics from $243.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $282.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on Verisk Analytics from $275.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $285.80.

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.