WoodTrust Financial Corp Boosts Holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

WoodTrust Financial Corp boosted its stake in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 0.8% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 25,247 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 206 shares during the period. WoodTrust Financial Corp’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $6,765,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the second quarter valued at about $31,000. Chilton Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Verisk Analytics during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $34,000. Rothschild Investment LLC purchased a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Kings Path Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics during the second quarter worth approximately $46,000. Finally, Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics during the third quarter worth $50,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

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.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $275.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $285.00 to $301.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $263.00 to $276.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. 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 research note on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $282.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $285.80.

Verisk Analytics Trading Down 0.2 %

NASDAQ:VRSK opened at $279.13 on Thursday. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 52-week low of $217.34 and a 52-week high of $287.13. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $269.62 and a 200-day simple moving average of $263.70. The company has a market capitalization of $39.42 billion, a PE ratio of 43.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.48 and a beta of 0.86.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $1.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $725.30 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $722.19 million. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 32.65% and a return on equity of 274.13%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.52 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 issued a dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.