Malaga Cove Capital LLC Buys Shares of 829 Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Malaga Cove Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 829 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $223,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its position in Verisk Analytics by 7.8% during the second quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 23,733 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $6,397,000 after purchasing an additional 1,713 shares during the period. LGT Group Foundation boosted its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 4.9% in the 2nd quarter. LGT Group Foundation now owns 38,886 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $10,482,000 after buying an additional 1,816 shares during the period. Choreo LLC purchased a new position in Verisk Analytics in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $1,211,000. Ballentine Partners LLC raised its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 4.0% during the 2nd quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 8,609 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,321,000 after acquiring an additional 334 shares during the period. Finally, Bowie Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 28.8% during the second quarter. Bowie Capital Management LLC now owns 55,201 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $14,879,000 after acquiring an additional 12,341 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VRSK has been the subject of several recent research reports. UBS Group lifted their price target on Verisk Analytics from $255.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted 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. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Verisk Analytics to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. Evercore ISI upped their target price 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. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $268.00 price target on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $273.54.

Verisk Analytics Stock Up 0.6 %

VRSK opened at $273.25 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.86. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $271.91 and its 200 day simple moving average is $253.32. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 52 week low of $215.32 and a 52 week high of $287.13. The stock has a market cap of $38.92 billion, a PE ratio of 50.98, a P/E/G ratio of 3.44 and a beta of 0.86.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The business services provider reported $1.74 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.64 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $716.80 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $722.45 million. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 252.11% and a net margin of 32.03%. Verisk Analytics’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.51 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 0.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.10%.

Insider Activity at Verisk Analytics

In other Verisk Analytics news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $262.31, for a total transaction of $52,462.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 16,608 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,356,444.48. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 17th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $4,356,444.48. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 326 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $272.22, for a total value of $88,743.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly 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 sold a total of 726 shares of company stock valued at $196,682 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

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.