Grandfield & Dodd LLC Decreases Stock Position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Grandfield & Dodd LLC trimmed its position in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 0.2% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 144,845 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 301 shares during the period. Verisk Analytics accounts for approximately 2.3% of Grandfield & Dodd LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest position. Grandfield & Dodd LLC’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $38,813,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in VRSK. Marshall Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Marshall Financial Group LLC now owns 4,932 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,322,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the period. Signaturefd LLC raised its stake in Verisk Analytics by 1.5% during the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 2,586 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $693,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the period. Brookstone Capital Management boosted its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 3,517 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $982,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 19.0% in the 1st quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 263 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $57,000 after buying an additional 42 shares during the period. Finally, Ascent Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 2,465 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $664,000 after buying an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verisk Analytics

In other news, CEO Lee Shavel sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 53,163 shares in the company, valued at $14,923,385.73. This trade represents a 1.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $286.49, for a total transaction of $57,298.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 15,608 shares in the company, valued at $4,471,535.92. This represents a 1.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 2,400 shares of company stock valued at $678,764. 0.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently issued reports on VRSK shares. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $275.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective 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 target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $268.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Verisk Analytics to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $243.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $285.80.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

NASDAQ VRSK opened at $281.64 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $271.61 and a two-hundred day moving average of $267.68. The company has a market capitalization of $39.77 billion, a PE ratio of 43.94, a P/E/G ratio of 3.52 and a beta of 0.86. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 1 year low of $217.34 and a 1 year high of $291.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.82.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $1.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $722.19 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.52 EPS. Verisk Analytics’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a $0.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.55%. Verisk Analytics’s payout ratio is currently 24.34%.

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.