Tranquility Partners LLC Sells 40 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Tranquility Partners LLC lowered its position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,270 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 40 shares during the period. Tranquility Partners LLC’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $876,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of VRSK. Legal & General Group Plc raised its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 7.4% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 1,618,266 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $436,204,000 after buying an additional 111,364 shares during the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc lifted its position in Verisk Analytics by 5.5% in the 2nd quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 1,502,614 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $405,030,000 after acquiring an additional 78,008 shares in the last quarter. GUARDCAP ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd boosted its stake in Verisk Analytics by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. GUARDCAP ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd now owns 1,137,069 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $268,041,000 after purchasing an additional 12,231 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 8.4% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,103,628 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $297,491,000 after purchasing an additional 85,202 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC raised its position in Verisk Analytics by 6.7% in the 2nd quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 613,185 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $165,284,000 after buying an additional 38,258 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on VRSK. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $282.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Evercore ISI reissued an “in-line” rating and set a $279.00 target price on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Verisk Analytics from $243.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Barclays upped their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $275.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Verisk Analytics from $268.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $285.80.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $286.49, for a total value of $57,298.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 15,608 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,471,535.92. This trade represents a 1.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Lee Shavel sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.71, for a total transaction of $280,710.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 53,163 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,923,385.73. This trade represents a 1.85 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 2,400 shares of company stock valued at $678,764. Corporate insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

Verisk Analytics stock opened at $280.36 on Tuesday. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $217.34 and a fifty-two week high of $291.42. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $271.45 and its 200-day moving average price is $267.37. The stock has a market cap of $39.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.52 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.82.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $1.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $725.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $722.19 million. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 274.13% and a net margin of 32.65%. The company’s revenue was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.52 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.56%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.34%.

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.