Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) Director Bruce Edward Hansen Sells 1,179 Shares

Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $272.81, for a total value of $321,642.99. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 13,786 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,760,958.66. This trade represents a 7.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ VRSK opened at $280.42 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.82. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a one year low of $217.34 and a one year high of $296.58. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $282.65 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $274.55. The company has a market capitalization of $39.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.55 and a beta of 0.88.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last released 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 company had revenue of $725.30 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $722.19 million. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 274.13% and a net margin of 32.65%. The firm’s revenue was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.52 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th were paid a $0.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.56%. Verisk Analytics’s payout ratio is presently 24.34%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VRSK has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Evercore ISI reissued an “in-line” rating and issued a $279.00 price target on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Barclays lifted their price target on Verisk Analytics from $275.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 target price on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Tuesday. Robert W. Baird lifted 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, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Verisk Analytics from $283.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $293.11.

Institutional Trading of Verisk Analytics

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Pensionfund Sabic acquired a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,432,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 19.7% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,306 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $911,000 after purchasing an additional 545 shares in the last quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC lifted its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 29.5% during the 3rd quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC now owns 104,536 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $28,011,000 after buying an additional 23,823 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 6.8% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,231,201 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $331,476,000 after acquiring an additional 78,376 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new position in Verisk Analytics during the 3rd quarter valued at about $229,000. Institutional investors own 90.00% 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.