Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) Shares Sold by New Century Financial Group LLC

New Century Financial Group LLC reduced its position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,580 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 64 shares during the quarter. New Century Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $691,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of VRSK. Alaska Permanent Fund Corp purchased a new position in Verisk Analytics during the 1st quarter worth $105,000. Wedmont Private Capital increased its position in Verisk Analytics by 3.4% in the 1st quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 1,860 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $427,000 after acquiring an additional 62 shares during the period. Ballentine Partners LLC raised its stake in Verisk Analytics by 9.6% during the 1st quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 8,275 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,951,000 after acquiring an additional 724 shares during the last quarter. Peak Financial Advisors LLC lifted its position in Verisk Analytics by 22.7% during the 1st quarter. Peak Financial Advisors LLC now owns 11,666 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,750,000 after acquiring an additional 2,159 shares during the period. Finally, Global Assets Advisory LLC purchased a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $11,582,000. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $271.33, for a total transaction of $54,266.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 15,808 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,289,184.64. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently weighed in on VRSK. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Verisk Analytics from $243.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $255.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $282.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $268.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on Verisk Analytics from $275.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Verisk Analytics currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $278.67.

Verisk Analytics Trading Up 0.1 %

NASDAQ:VRSK opened at $267.62 on Friday. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 52-week low of $215.32 and a 52-week high of $287.13. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.86. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $268.88 and a 200-day simple moving average of $259.53. The company has a market capitalization of $38.18 billion, a PE ratio of 49.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.42 and a beta of 0.86.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The business services provider reported $1.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.64 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $716.80 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $722.45 million. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 32.03% and a return on equity of 252.11%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.51 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Sunday, September 15th were given a dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.58%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 13th. Verisk Analytics’s payout ratio is 29.10%.

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.