Sei Investments Co. Boosts Stake in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Sei Investments Co. lifted its holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 3.0% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 224,110 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,511 shares during the quarter. Sei Investments Co.’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $60,410,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the second quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Chilton Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the second quarter valued at approximately $34,000. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the first quarter valued at approximately $28,000. DSM Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Finally, Rothschild Investment LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the second quarter valued at approximately $41,000. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verisk Analytics

In related news, 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 value of $88,743.72. Following the sale, the insider now 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 SEC, which is available through this link. In other Verisk Analytics news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $277.38, for a total transaction of $55,476.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 16,408 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,551,251.04. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 326 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the insider now owns 7,470 shares in the company, valued at $2,033,483.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have commented on VRSK shares. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on Verisk Analytics from $250.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 25th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price 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. Barclays boosted their target price on Verisk Analytics from $275.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. UBS Group boosted their target price on Verisk Analytics from $255.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Verisk Analytics to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $275.23.

Verisk Analytics Stock Down 0.4 %

VRSK opened at $264.85 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $37.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.42 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.86, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 0.95. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $270.78 and a 200 day moving average price of $255.05. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a twelve month low of $215.32 and a twelve month high of $287.13.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.64 by $0.10. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 252.11% and a net margin of 32.03%. The firm had revenue of $716.80 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $722.45 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.51 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.56 EPS for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Sunday, September 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.59%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio is 29.10%.

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.