Bridgewater Associates LP Sells 12,929 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Bridgewater Associates LP lessened its position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) by 81.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,905 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 12,929 shares during the period. Bridgewater Associates LP's holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $778,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the 2nd quarter valued at $31,000. Chilton Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the 2nd quarter valued at $34,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new stake in Verisk Analytics during the 3rd quarter worth about $34,000. Rothschild Investment LLC acquired a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics during the 2nd quarter worth about $41,000. Finally, Kings Path Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics in the 2nd quarter valued at about $46,000. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ VRSK traded down $3.65 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $289.05. 896,875 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 779,253. The firm has a market capitalization of $40.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.84, a P/E/G ratio of 3.67 and a beta of 0.87. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $275.42 and its 200 day simple moving average is $270.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.82. 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 earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $1.67 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $725.30 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $722.19 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.52 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced 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. 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 0.54%. Verisk Analytics's payout ratio is presently 24.34%.

Insider Transactions at Verisk Analytics

In other Verisk Analytics news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $271.33, for a total value of $54,266.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 15,808 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,289,184.64. The trade was a 1.25 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Lee Shavel sold 1,000 shares of the 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 $286,490.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 54,163 shares in the company, valued at $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 have sold 2,400 shares of company stock valued at $678,764. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Verisk Analytics Company 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.