Coldstream Capital Management Inc. Increases Stock Position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Coldstream Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 10.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 2,410 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 235 shares during the quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $651,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VRSK. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 4.1% in the second quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 14,432 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,890,000 after buying an additional 573 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in Verisk Analytics by 2,331.7% in the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 81,169 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $21,879,000 after acquiring an additional 77,831 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. increased its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 177.4% in the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 821 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $221,000 after acquiring an additional 525 shares in the last quarter. Stanley Laman Group Ltd. acquired a new position in Verisk Analytics during the second quarter worth $227,000. Finally, Brookstone Capital Management lifted its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 1.2% during the second 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 in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verisk Analytics

In other Verisk Analytics news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 15,608 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,471,535.92. This trade represents a 1.27 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Lee Shavel sold 1,000 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.71, for a total transaction of $280,710.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 53,163 shares in the company, valued at $14,923,385.73. This represents a 1.85 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 2,400 shares of company stock valued at $678,764 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VRSK has been the subject of a number of research reports. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $268.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Verisk Analytics from $263.00 to $276.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Barclays lifted their price target on Verisk Analytics from $275.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Evercore ISI reiterated an “in-line” rating and issued a $279.00 target price on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $285.00 to $301.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Verisk Analytics presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $289.80.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

Shares of VRSK stock opened at $283.35 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $279.60 and a 200 day moving average price of $272.47. The firm has a market capitalization of $40.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.57 and a beta of 0.87. 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 quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.82.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $1.67 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.07. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 274.13% and a net margin of 32.65%. The company had revenue of $725.30 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $722.19 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.52 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.