Cetera Investment Advisers Purchases 1,442 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 2.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 55,957 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,442 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers’ holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $15,083,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VRSK. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics during the second quarter worth about $31,000. Chilton Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics during the second quarter worth $34,000. OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the 1st quarter valued at $28,000. Rothschild Investment LLC bought a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the 2nd quarter valued at $41,000. Finally, Riverview Trust Co acquired a new position in Verisk Analytics in the 1st quarter worth $40,000. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verisk Analytics

In related news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $277.38, for a total transaction of $55,476.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 16,408 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,551,251.04. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

VRSK opened at $265.67 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.86. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 12-month low of $215.32 and a 12-month high of $287.13. The business has a 50 day moving average of $268.40 and a 200-day moving average of $256.91. The stock has a market cap of $37.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.57, a PEG ratio of 3.41 and a beta of 0.86.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $716.80 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $722.45 million. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 32.03% and a return on equity of 252.11%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.51 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Sunday, September 15th were paid a $0.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 13th. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.59%. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 29.10%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on VRSK. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $282.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Evercore ISI reaffirmed an “in-line” rating and set a $279.00 price target on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Wednesday. Barclays raised 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. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Verisk Analytics to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $278.00 to $263.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $276.69.

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.