Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd Has $1.84 Million Stock Holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd trimmed its position in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 7.4% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 6,847 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 546 shares during the quarter. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $1,835,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Mizuho Securities USA LLC grew its position in Verisk Analytics by 2,380.6% during the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 272,965 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $73,144,000 after acquiring an additional 261,961 shares during the last quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. lifted its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 60.4% during the second quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 541,426 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $145,941,000 after purchasing an additional 203,951 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the first quarter worth about $28,739,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 187.1% during the 2nd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 171,835 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $46,305,000 after acquiring an additional 111,992 shares during the period. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc increased its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 7.4% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 1,618,266 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $436,204,000 after purchasing an additional 111,364 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verisk Analytics

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently commented on VRSK shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $282.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $243.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Evercore ISI reaffirmed an “in-line” rating and issued a $279.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $285.00 to $301.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $275.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Verisk Analytics presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $285.80.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

VRSK stock opened at $291.49 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.82. The firm has a market cap of $41.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.47, a P/E/G ratio of 3.64 and a beta of 0.86. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $273.11 and its 200 day moving average is $268.91. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 52 week low of $217.34 and a 52 week high of $293.19.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $1.67 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.07. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 274.13% and a net margin of 32.65%. The business had revenue of $725.30 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $722.19 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.52 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.39 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.54%. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio 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.