GSA Capital Partners LLP Acquires Shares of 6,000 Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

GSA Capital Partners LLP acquired a new stake in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 6,000 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,608,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Legal & General Group Plc grew its position 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 acquiring an additional 111,364 shares during the last quarter. 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 buying an additional 78,008 shares in the last quarter. GUARDCAP ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd grew its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. GUARDCAP ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd now owns 1,137,069 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $268,041,000 after buying an additional 12,231 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 8.4% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,103,628 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $297,491,000 after buying an additional 85,202 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 6.7% during the 2nd quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 613,185 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $165,284,000 after buying an additional 38,258 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Verisk Analytics

In other news, 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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 15,808 shares in the company, valued at $4,289,184.64. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VRSK has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Verisk Analytics from $263.00 to $276.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Evercore ISI reissued an “in-line” rating and set a $279.00 price target on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $243.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Barclays upped 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. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Verisk Analytics to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Verisk Analytics currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $285.80.

Verisk Analytics Trading Up 1.0 %

Verisk Analytics stock opened at $287.92 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $270.28 and a two-hundred day moving average of $265.27. 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 one year low of $217.34 and a one year high of $289.40. The stock has a market cap of $40.66 billion, a PE ratio of 44.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.57 and a beta of 0.86.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last released 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. 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 analysts’ expectations of $722.19 million. During the same period last year, the business 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 anticipate that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS 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 0.54%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. Verisk Analytics’s payout ratio is 24.34%.

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.