Stegent Equity Advisors Inc. Boosts Stock Position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Stegent Equity Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 259.0% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,805 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,745 shares during the quarter. Stegent Equity Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $1,026,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brookstone Capital Management raised its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 3,517 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $982,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 19.0% during the first quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 263 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $57,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares in the last quarter. Smithfield Trust Co boosted its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 6.3% during the fourth quarter. Smithfield Trust Co now owns 727 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $175,000 after buying an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. increased its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 2.9% in the 1st quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 1,533 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $361,000 after buying an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Webster Bank N. A. raised its position in Verisk Analytics by 28.4% in the 1st quarter. Webster Bank N. A. now owns 208 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $49,000 after buying an additional 46 shares during the last quarter. 90.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,551,251.04. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $277.38, for a total value of $55,476.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 16,408 shares in the company, valued at $4,551,251.04. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 326 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 in the company, valued at approximately $2,033,483.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 726 shares of company stock worth $196,682. 0.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on VRSK. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Verisk Analytics to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $250.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 25th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on Verisk Analytics from $278.00 to $263.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $268.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $282.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Verisk Analytics presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $273.54.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

NASDAQ VRSK traded up $1.11 on Friday, reaching $272.82. 658,996 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 647,445. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.86. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a one year low of $215.32 and a one year high of $287.13. The firm has a market capitalization of $38.86 billion, a PE ratio of 50.90, a PEG ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 0.84. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $271.57 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $252.03.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The business services provider reported $1.74 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 company’s revenue was up 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.51 EPS. Analysts expect that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

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

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.