Point72 Hong Kong Ltd Boosts Stock Position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Point72 Hong Kong Ltd boosted its position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) by 479.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 16,853 shares of the business services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 13,943 shares during the period. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd's holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $4,516,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of VRSK. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 899.1% during the 3rd quarter. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 11,919 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $2,913,000 after acquiring an additional 10,726 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV lifted its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 15.3% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 35,908 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $9,622,000 after purchasing an additional 4,767 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc lifted its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 5.7% during the third quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 44,290 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $11,868,000 after purchasing an additional 2,374 shares during the last quarter. Diversified Trust Co purchased a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics during the second quarter valued at $1,325,000. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 384.3% in the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 27,881 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $7,471,000 after purchasing an additional 22,124 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.00% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Verisk Analytics

In related news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the business'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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 15,608 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,471,535.92. The trade was a 1.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Lee Shavel sold 1,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.71, for a total value of $280,710.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 53,163 shares of the company's stock, valued at $14,923,385.73. The trade was a 1.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 in the last ninety days. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on VRSK shares. 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 research report on Thursday, October 17th. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on Verisk Analytics from $285.00 to $301.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Evercore ISI reaffirmed an "in-line" rating and issued a $279.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $275.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Verisk Analytics to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. Six research 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $285.80.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

Shares of VRSK stock traded down $0.35 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $294.21. The stock had a trading volume of 363,155 shares, compared to its average volume of 601,890. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 1-year low of $217.34 and a 1-year high of $296.58. The firm has a market cap of $41.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.90, a PEG ratio of 3.69 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. The business's fifty day moving average is $275.42 and its 200-day moving average is $270.09.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) last released 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. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 274.13% and a net margin of 32.65%. The business had revenue of $725.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $722.19 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.52 EPS. The company's revenue was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The company 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. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.53%. Verisk Analytics's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.