Raymond James & Associates Buys 7,098 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Raymond James & Associates grew its stake in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 385,195 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,098 shares during the quarter. Raymond James & Associates owned 0.27% of Verisk Analytics worth $103,217,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in VRSK. Marshall Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in Verisk Analytics by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Marshall Financial Group LLC now owns 4,932 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,322,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Brookstone Capital Management grew its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 1.2% during the second quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 3,517 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $982,000 after buying an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 19.0% during the first quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 263 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $57,000 after acquiring an additional 42 shares in the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. raised its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 2.9% in the 1st quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 1,533 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $361,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ascent Group LLC lifted its position in Verisk Analytics by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 2,465 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $664,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. 90.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the business’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 transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 15,808 shares in the company, valued at $4,289,184.64. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Verisk Analytics Trading Up 0.1 %

NASDAQ:VRSK opened at $267.62 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.86, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $268.88 and a 200-day moving average price of $259.74. The firm has a market capitalization of $38.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.40 and a beta of 0.86. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a one year low of $215.32 and a one year high of $287.13.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last released its 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. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 32.03% and a return on equity of 252.11%. The company had revenue of $716.80 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $722.45 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.51 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.57 EPS for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Sunday, September 15th were paid a dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 13th. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 29.10%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on VRSK shares. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on Verisk Analytics from $268.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price 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. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $282.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Verisk Analytics to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. Finally, Evercore ISI restated an “in-line” rating and issued a $279.00 target price on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $278.67.

Verisk Analytics Company 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.