BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. Raises Holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. boosted its stake in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 111.5% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 24,681 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 13,010 shares during the period. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A.’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $6,614,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Legal & General Group Plc grew its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 7.4% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 1,618,266 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $436,204,000 after buying an additional 111,364 shares in the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc grew its stake in Verisk Analytics by 5.5% in the 2nd quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 1,502,614 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $405,030,000 after acquiring an additional 78,008 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 8.4% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,103,628 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $297,491,000 after acquiring an additional 85,202 shares during the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 6.7% during the 2nd quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 613,185 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $165,284,000 after purchasing an additional 38,258 shares during the period. Finally, Epoch Investment Partners Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 60.4% during the second quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 541,426 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $145,941,000 after purchasing an additional 203,951 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Lee Shavel sold 1,000 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $286.49, for a total transaction of $286,490.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 54,163 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,517,157.87. The trade was a 1.81 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $286.49, for a total transaction of $57,298.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 15,608 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,471,535.92. The trade was a 1.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 2,400 shares of company stock worth $678,764 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently commented on VRSK shares. Barclays upped their target price on Verisk Analytics from $275.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Evercore ISI reiterated an “in-line” rating and set a $279.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $285.00 to $301.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Verisk Analytics to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $243.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $285.80.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

Shares of VRSK stock opened at $290.73 on Monday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $272.66 and its 200-day simple moving average is $268.59. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 52 week low of $217.34 and a 52 week high of $291.42. The company has a market cap of $41.05 billion, a PE ratio of 45.36, a P/E/G ratio of 3.64 and a beta of 0.86.

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

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a $0.39 dividend. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.54%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.34%.

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.