Czech National Bank Boosts Stake in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Czech National Bank increased its position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 6.7% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 29,013 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,824 shares during the period. Czech National Bank’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $7,774,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Verisk Analytics during the second quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Chilton Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $34,000. OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Rothschild Investment LLC bought a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Finally, Riverview Trust Co bought a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $40,000. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction on Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $277.38, for a total value of $55,476.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 16,408 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,551,251.04. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Verisk Analytics Trading Down 3.2 %

VRSK opened at $268.28 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $268.07 and its two-hundred day moving average is $257.80. The company has a market capitalization of $38.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 51.69, a PEG ratio of 3.38 and a beta of 0.86. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 52 week low of $215.32 and a 52 week high of $287.13. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.86.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last announced its quarterly 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 business had revenue of $716.80 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $722.45 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.51 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Sunday, September 15th were issued a $0.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 13th. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.58%. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio is presently 29.10%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently issued reports on VRSK. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $278.00 to $263.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Wells Fargo & Company raised Verisk Analytics to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Robert W. Baird raised their price target 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 raised their price target on Verisk Analytics from $243.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $282.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Seven 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 company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $276.69.

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.