Insider Selling: Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) Insider Sells 2,111 Shares of Stock

Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, January 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.06, for a total value of $595,428.66. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 9,066 shares in the company, valued at $2,557,155.96. This trade represents a 18.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

VRSK opened at $277.98 on Friday. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a twelve month low of $217.34 and a twelve month high of $296.58. The firm has a market cap of $39.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.37, a PEG ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $281.69 and a 200 day simple moving average of $274.91.

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

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

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

Institutional Trading of Verisk Analytics

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Marshall Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in Verisk Analytics by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Marshall Financial Group LLC now owns 4,932 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,322,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC lifted its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 1.5% during the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 2,586 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $693,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Ascent Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 1.8% during the second quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 2,465 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $664,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC grew its stake in Verisk Analytics by 0.8% in the third quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 5,109 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,369,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI increased its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 2.2% in the third quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 2,025 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $543,000 after buying an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have commented on VRSK shares. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Verisk Analytics from $263.00 to $276.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $285.00 to $301.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Evercore ISI reissued an “in-line” rating and issued a $279.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $283.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Verisk Analytics presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $293.11.

Verisk Analytics Company 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.