MetLife Investment Management LLC Sells 1,139 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

MetLife Investment Management LLC cut its position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 43,517 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 1,139 shares during the quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $11,661,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 6.5% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,618,971 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,237,700,000 after acquiring an additional 283,653 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 7.4% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 1,618,266 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $436,204,000 after purchasing an additional 111,364 shares during the period. TD Asset Management Inc grew its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 5.5% during the 2nd quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 1,502,614 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $405,030,000 after purchasing an additional 78,008 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 8.4% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,103,628 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $297,491,000 after purchasing an additional 85,202 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 1.0% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 801,150 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $214,676,000 after buying an additional 8,262 shares in the last quarter. 90.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:VRSK opened at $294.56 on Friday. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a one year low of $217.34 and a one year high of $296.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.82. The company has a market cap of $41.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.95, a PEG ratio of 3.69 and a beta of 0.86. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $274.83 and a 200 day simple moving average of $269.59.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $1.67 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 return on equity of 274.13% and a net margin of 32.65%. Verisk Analytics’s revenue was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.52 EPS. Research analysts predict that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Verisk Analytics news, CEO Lee Shavel sold 1,000 shares of the company’s 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 53,163 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,923,385.73. The trade was a 1.85 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $271.33, for a total value of $54,266.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 15,808 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,289,184.64. This trade represents a 1.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 2,400 shares of company stock worth $678,764 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on the company. Barclays raised their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $275.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $282.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Verisk Analytics to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $263.00 to $276.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their target price 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. Six research 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 company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $285.80.

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.