Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank Buys 8,884 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) by 14.4% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 70,667 shares of the business services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 8,884 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank owned approximately 0.05% of Verisk Analytics worth $18,936,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on VRSK. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on Verisk Analytics from $285.00 to $301.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on Verisk Analytics from $268.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Wells Fargo & Company raised Verisk Analytics to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $263.00 to $276.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Evercore ISI restated an "in-line" rating and issued a $279.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Verisk Analytics presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $285.80.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Verisk Analytics news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of Verisk Analytics 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 15,808 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,289,184.64. The trade was a 1.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Lee Shavel sold 1,000 shares of the 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 53,163 shares of the company's stock, valued at $14,923,385.73. This trade represents a 1.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 2,400 shares of company stock worth $678,764. Insiders own 0.40% of the company's stock.

Verisk Analytics Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ:VRSK traded down $0.35 during trading on Friday, hitting $294.21. 363,155 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 601,890. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $275.42 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $269.93. 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 P/E 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.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $1.67 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.07. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 32.65% and a return on equity of 274.13%. The company had revenue of $725.30 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $722.19 million. During the same quarter 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. Equities analysts predict that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a $0.39 dividend. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. Verisk Analytics's payout ratio is 24.34%.

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.