Unigestion Holding SA Increases Position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Unigestion Holding SA lifted its position in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) by 77.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 114,351 shares of the business services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 49,910 shares during the quarter. Unigestion Holding SA owned approximately 0.08% of Verisk Analytics worth $30,641,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of VRSK. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group boosted its position in Verisk Analytics by 4.8% during the 3rd quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 974 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $264,000 after buying an additional 45 shares during the period. TD Private Client Wealth LLC raised its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 1.9% during the third quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 13,993 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $3,750,000 after acquiring an additional 262 shares during the last quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank lifted its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 2.8% in the third quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 83,150 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $22,281,000 after acquiring an additional 2,253 shares during the period. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. increased its position in Verisk Analytics by 10.8% during the 3rd quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,410 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $651,000 after purchasing an additional 235 shares during the period. Finally, Vestcor Inc raised its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 6.8% during the 3rd quarter. Vestcor Inc now owns 5,167 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,385,000 after purchasing an additional 331 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.00% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Lee Shavel sold 1,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.71, for a total transaction of $280,710.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 53,163 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,923,385.73. The trade was a 1.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, 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 sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 15,608 shares of the company's stock, 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. Insiders sold 2,400 shares of company stock worth $678,764 in the last three months. 0.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:VRSK traded down $1.66 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $285.02. The company had a trading volume of 557,490 shares, compared to its average volume of 779,771. The company has a market cap of $40.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.82, a PEG ratio of 3.60 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. The company has a fifty day moving average of $278.61 and a two-hundred day moving average of $272.07. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 12-month low of $217.34 and a 12-month high of $296.58.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $1.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $725.30 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $722.19 million. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 32.65% and a return on equity of 274.13%. Verisk Analytics's revenue for the quarter was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.52 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on VRSK shares. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Verisk Analytics to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. Evercore ISI reiterated an "in-line" rating and set a $279.00 price target on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $285.00 to $301.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Verisk Analytics from $268.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on Verisk Analytics from $275.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $285.80.

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.