Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC Increases Stake in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 20.9% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 12,740 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,200 shares during the quarter. Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $3,414,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics during the 2nd quarter worth about $31,000. Chilton Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the second quarter worth $34,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the third quarter worth $34,000. Rothschild Investment LLC purchased a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics in the 2nd quarter valued at $41,000. Finally, Kings Path Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Verisk Analytics during the 2nd quarter worth $46,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

VRSK opened at $290.73 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $41.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.36, a PEG ratio of 3.64 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a 50-day moving average of $272.66 and a 200-day moving average of $268.59. 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, Inc. has a 1-year low of $217.34 and a 1-year high of $291.42.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $725.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $722.19 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.52 earnings per share. Verisk Analytics’s quarterly revenue was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS 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. Investors 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 0.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio is currently 24.34%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VRSK has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Verisk Analytics to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Barclays upped their price target on Verisk Analytics from $275.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. Evercore ISI reiterated an “in-line” rating and set a $279.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $243.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their price target 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. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Verisk Analytics currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $285.80.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $271.33, for a total transaction of $54,266.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 15,808 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,289,184.64. This represents a 1.25 % 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 business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $286.49, for a total value of $286,490.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 54,163 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,517,157.87. This represents a 1.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 2,400 shares of company stock worth $678,764 over the last ninety days. 0.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.