Forum Financial Management LP Buys Shares of 797 Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Forum Financial Management LP bought a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund bought 797 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $215,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the first quarter valued at approximately $28,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the 2nd quarter valued at $31,000. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter worth $32,000. DSM Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter worth $33,000. Finally, Riverview Trust Co acquired a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics during the 1st quarter valued at about $40,000. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on VRSK. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Verisk Analytics to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. UBS Group upped their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $255.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Verisk Analytics from $268.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Verisk Analytics from $243.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $268.00 price target on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Verisk Analytics currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $273.54.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $262.31, for a total value of $52,462.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 16,608 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,356,444.48. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $262.31, for a total value of $52,462.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 16,608 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,356,444.48. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 326 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $272.22, for a total transaction of $88,743.72. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 7,470 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,033,483.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 726 shares of company stock worth $196,682 in the last quarter. 0.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Verisk Analytics Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of VRSK opened at $272.82 on Friday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $271.57 and its 200-day simple moving average is $251.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.86, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 0.95. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 1 year low of $215.32 and a 1 year high of $287.13. The stock has a market capitalization of $38.86 billion, a PE ratio of 50.90, a P/E/G ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 0.84.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The business services provider reported $1.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.64 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $716.80 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $722.45 million. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 32.03% and a return on equity of 252.11%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.51 EPS. Analysts forecast that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Sunday, September 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.39 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.57%. Verisk Analytics’s payout ratio is 29.10%.

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.