Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) Shares Sold by Synovus Financial Corp

Synovus Financial Corp lessened its holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) by 21.3% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 12,519 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 3,386 shares during the period. Synovus Financial Corp's holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $3,355,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sanctuary Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 188.2% during the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 25,637 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $7,454,000 after purchasing an additional 16,742 shares during the last quarter. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position 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 buying an additional 10,726 shares during the period. KBC Group NV increased its stake in Verisk Analytics by 15.3% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 35,908 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $9,622,000 after purchasing an additional 4,767 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd grew its stake in Verisk Analytics by 479.1% in the third quarter. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd now owns 16,853 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $4,516,000 after acquiring an additional 13,943 shares during the period. Finally, CIBC Asset Management Inc raised its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 5.7% in the 3rd quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 44,290 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $11,868,000 after acquiring an additional 2,374 shares during the last quarter. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Barclays raised their target price on Verisk Analytics from $275.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $268.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $285.00 to $301.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Evercore ISI reiterated an "in-line" rating and set a $279.00 target price on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $283.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Verisk Analytics presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $289.80.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verisk Analytics

In other news, CEO Lee Shavel sold 1,000 shares of Verisk Analytics 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 directly 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $286.49, for a total transaction of $57,298.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 15,608 shares in the company, valued at $4,471,535.92. The trade was a 1.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 2,400 shares of company stock worth $678,764. Company insiders own 0.40% of the company's stock.

Verisk Analytics Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of VRSK traded down $1.56 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $283.35. 530,250 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 617,693. The stock has a market cap of $40.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.20, a P/E/G ratio of 3.55 and a beta of 0.87. 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, Inc. has a 12 month low of $217.34 and a 12 month high of $296.58. The stock's 50-day moving average is $279.60 and its two-hundred day moving average is $272.64.

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

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

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

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.