MetLife Investment Management LLC Sells 1,139 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

MetLife Investment Management LLC trimmed its position in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 43,517 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 1,139 shares during the quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $11,661,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of VRSK. Blueshift Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics in the third quarter worth about $391,000. Townsquare Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 10.0% during the third quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 16,381 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,390,000 after buying an additional 1,489 shares during the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group bought a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics during the third quarter worth approximately $198,000. D.A. Davidson & CO. lifted its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 4.4% in the third quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 7,453 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,997,000 after buying an additional 317 shares during the period. Finally, FMR LLC grew its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 6.5% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,618,971 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,237,700,000 after acquiring an additional 283,653 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VRSK has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $268.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Evercore ISI reaffirmed an “in-line” rating and set a $279.00 price target on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $285.00 to $301.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $282.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. 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 research note on Friday, September 13th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Verisk Analytics has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $285.80.

Insider Activity at Verisk Analytics

In related news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $286.49, for a total transaction of $57,298.00. Following the completion of 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Lee Shavel sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.71, for a total value of $280,710.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 53,163 shares in the company, valued at $14,923,385.73. This represents a 1.85 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 2,400 shares of company stock valued at $678,764. 0.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Verisk Analytics Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ:VRSK opened at $294.56 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $274.83 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $269.59. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a one year low of $217.34 and a one year high of $296.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.82. The stock has a market capitalization of $41.59 billion, a PE ratio of 45.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.69 and a beta of 0.86.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $1.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 the consensus estimate of $722.19 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.52 earnings per share. Verisk Analytics’s quarterly revenue was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a $0.39 dividend. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. Verisk Analytics’s 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.