Financial Advocates Investment Management Acquires 92 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Financial Advocates Investment Management raised its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 5.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,659 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 92 shares during the quarter. Financial Advocates Investment Management’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $444,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics in the 2nd quarter valued at about $31,000. Chilton Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Rothschild Investment LLC purchased a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $41,000. Kings Path Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $46,000. Finally, Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Verisk Analytics during the 3rd quarter valued at $50,000. 90.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have commented on VRSK shares. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $263.00 to $276.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $243.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $282.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Verisk Analytics to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. Finally, Barclays increased 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. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $285.80.

Verisk Analytics Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:VRSK opened at $275.48 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36. The business’s 50 day moving average is $269.07 and its 200 day moving average is $262.52. The stock has a market cap of $38.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 0.86. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 52-week low of $217.34 and a 52-week high of $287.13.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $1.67 EPS 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $722.19 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.52 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.61 EPS for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a $0.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.57%. Verisk Analytics’s payout ratio is presently 24.34%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were 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 owns 15,808 shares of the company’s stock, 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 filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

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.