Equitable Trust Co. Acquires New Stake in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Equitable Trust Co. acquired a new stake in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 1,133 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $305,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Retireful LLC purchased a new position in Verisk Analytics in the 2nd quarter valued at $959,000. Ritholtz Wealth Management grew its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 18.3% during the 2nd quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 5,913 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,594,000 after purchasing an additional 914 shares during the period. Stegent Equity Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 259.0% during the 2nd quarter. Stegent Equity Advisors Inc. now owns 3,805 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,026,000 after purchasing an additional 2,745 shares during the period. Summit Financial LLC increased its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 12.7% in the 2nd quarter. Summit Financial LLC now owns 4,997 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,347,000 after purchasing an additional 563 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Aptus Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 12.4% in the second quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,148 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $309,000 after purchasing an additional 127 shares during the period. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $268.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. UBS Group raised their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $255.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $250.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 25th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $268.00 target price on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Verisk Analytics to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $273.54.

Verisk Analytics Trading Up 0.4 %

Verisk Analytics stock opened at $272.82 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $271.59 and a 200 day moving average price of $252.26. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 52 week low of $215.32 and a 52 week high of $287.13. The stock has a market cap of $38.86 billion, a PE ratio of 50.90, a P/E/G ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.86.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The business services provider reported $1.74 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.64 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $716.80 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $722.45 million. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 32.03% and a return on equity of 252.11%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.51 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Sunday, September 15th will be given a $0.39 dividend. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio is currently 29.10%.

Insider Activity at Verisk Analytics

In other Verisk Analytics news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $277.38, for a total value of $55,476.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 16,408 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,551,251.04. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Verisk Analytics news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $277.38, for a total transaction of $55,476.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 16,408 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,551,251.04. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 326 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $272.22, for a total transaction of $88,743.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 7,470 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,033,483.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 726 shares of company stock worth $196,682. 0.40% of the stock is currently 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.