Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) Shares Purchased by Portside Wealth Group LLC

Portside Wealth Group LLC raised its stake in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 9.2% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 1,737 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 146 shares during the period. Portside Wealth Group LLC’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $465,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS boosted its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 0.6% in the third quarter. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS now owns 82,037 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $21,983,000 after acquiring an additional 450 shares during the last quarter. WoodTrust Financial Corp lifted its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. WoodTrust Financial Corp now owns 25,247 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $6,765,000 after purchasing an additional 206 shares in the last quarter. Graypoint LLC grew its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 8.6% during the 3rd quarter. Graypoint LLC now owns 974 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $261,000 after purchasing an additional 77 shares during the period. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in Verisk Analytics by 10.2% during the 3rd quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,410 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $378,000 after purchasing an additional 130 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Callahan Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 21.6% in the third quarter. Callahan Advisors LLC now owns 15,545 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,165,000 after buying an additional 2,765 shares during the period. 90.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Verisk Analytics Trading Up 1.7 %

VRSK opened at $284.98 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $40.24 billion, a PE ratio of 44.46, a P/E/G ratio of 3.50 and a beta of 0.86. 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, Inc. has a 12-month low of $217.34 and a 12-month high of $287.21. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $270.04 and its 200 day moving average price is $264.24.

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

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.39 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.55%. Verisk Analytics’s payout ratio is 24.34%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $271.33, for a total value of $54,266.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 15,808 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,289,184.64. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on VRSK shares. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $285.00 to $301.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Barclays raised their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $275.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. BMO Capital Markets raised 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. Evercore ISI restated an “in-line” rating and issued a $279.00 price target on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Verisk Analytics to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. 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 company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Verisk Analytics presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $285.80.

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.