MAI Capital Management Decreases Holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

MAI Capital Management cut its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 10.0% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 18,617 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 2,065 shares during the quarter. MAI Capital Management’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $4,988,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the second quarter worth about $31,000. Chilton Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics during the second quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new position in Verisk Analytics during the 3rd quarter valued at $34,000. Rothschild Investment LLC bought a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics during the 2nd quarter valued at about $41,000. Finally, Kings Path Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics during the second quarter valued at about $46,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Verisk Analytics Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of VRSK stock opened at $281.64 on Wednesday. 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. The company has a market cap of $39.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.52 and a beta of 0.86. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $271.61 and its 200 day moving average price is $267.68.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last issued its earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $725.30 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $722.19 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.52 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

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 given 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 payout ratio is presently 24.34%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Verisk Analytics to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $282.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $243.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective 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. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $275.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $285.80.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verisk Analytics

In other Verisk Analytics news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $286.49, for a total value of $57,298.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 15,608 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,471,535.92. The trade was a 1.27 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Lee Shavel sold 1,000 shares of the 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $14,923,385.73. The trade was a 1.85 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 2,400 shares of company stock worth $678,764 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

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.