Apollon Wealth Management LLC Sells 110 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Apollon Wealth Management LLC lowered its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 5.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 1,996 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 110 shares during the period. Apollon Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $535,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of VRSK. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. increased its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 60.4% in the second quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 541,426 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $145,941,000 after buying an additional 203,951 shares during the period. Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in Verisk Analytics during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $28,739,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 187.1% during the 2nd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 171,835 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $46,305,000 after purchasing an additional 111,992 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc raised its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 7.4% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 1,618,266 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $436,204,000 after purchasing an additional 111,364 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 33.7% in the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 373,800 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $100,758,000 after purchasing an additional 94,300 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

Shares of VRSK opened at $280.80 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $39.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.81, a P/E/G ratio of 3.59 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 12-month low of $217.34 and a 12-month high of $291.42. The business’s fifty day moving average is $271.31 and its 200 day moving average is $266.46.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $1.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.07. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 32.65% and a return on equity of 274.13%. The company had revenue of $725.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $722.19 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.52 EPS. Verisk Analytics’s quarterly revenue was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The company 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 dividend of $0.39 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.56%. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio is presently 24.34%.

Insider Transactions at Verisk Analytics

In related news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the company’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 transaction of $54,266.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 15,808 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,289,184.64. This represents a 1.25 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Verisk Analytics to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $243.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Verisk Analytics from $268.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Evercore ISI reaffirmed an “in-line” rating and set a $279.00 target price on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on Verisk Analytics from $285.00 to $301.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Six 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Verisk Analytics has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $285.80.

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.