National Bank of Canada FI Has $23.34 Million Position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

National Bank of Canada FI reduced its stake in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 18.5% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 87,039 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 19,754 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $23,335,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. MGO Private Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Verisk Analytics during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $202,000. TD Asset Management Inc boosted its position in Verisk Analytics by 5.5% during 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 buying an additional 78,008 shares during the period. Markel Group Inc. boosted its position in Verisk Analytics by 5.1% during the 2nd quarter. Markel Group Inc. now owns 133,700 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $36,039,000 after buying an additional 6,500 shares during the period. Fiera Capital Corp boosted its position in Verisk Analytics by 37.3% during the 2nd quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 29,803 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $8,033,000 after buying an additional 8,095 shares during the period. Finally, Chilton Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Verisk Analytics during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $34,000. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

NASDAQ VRSK opened at $271.66 on Friday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $271.81 and a 200 day simple moving average of $252.95. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 12-month low of $215.32 and a 12-month high of $287.13. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.86. The company has a market cap of $38.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.68, a PEG ratio of 3.48 and a beta of 0.86.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $716.80 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $722.45 million. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 32.03% and a return on equity of 252.11%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.51 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on VRSK. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $268.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $243.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $250.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 25th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $268.00 price target on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $278.00 to $263.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $273.54.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Verisk Analytics news, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 326 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $272.22, for a total transaction of $88,743.72. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 7,470 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,033,483.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 326 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $272.22, for a total value of $88,743.72. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 7,470 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,033,483.40. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $277.38, for a total transaction of $55,476.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 16,408 shares in the company, valued at $4,551,251.04. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 726 shares of company stock valued at $196,682 in the last three months. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Verisk Analytics 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.