Martin Investment Management LLC Buys 965 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Martin Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 31,732 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 965 shares during the period. Verisk Analytics makes up 2.1% of Martin Investment Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest position. Martin Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $8,503,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Marshall Financial Group LLC boosted its position in Verisk Analytics by 0.8% during the third quarter. Marshall Financial Group LLC now owns 4,932 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,322,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the period. Signaturefd LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 1.5% in the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 2,586 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $693,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the period. Brookstone Capital Management grew its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 1.2% in the second quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 3,517 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $982,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 19.0% during the 1st quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 263 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $57,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares during the period. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. lifted its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 2.9% during the 1st quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 1,533 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $361,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VRSK has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Verisk Analytics to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $243.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $255.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Evercore ISI restated an “in-line” rating and issued a $279.00 target price on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $282.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Six research 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $285.80.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

VRSK opened at $277.22 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $269.26 and its 200-day moving average price is $263.18. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 52-week low of $217.34 and a 52-week high of $287.13. The stock has a market capitalization of $39.15 billion, a PE ratio of 43.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.46 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 announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $1.67 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.07. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 32.65% and a return on equity of 274.13%. The firm had revenue of $725.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $722.19 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.52 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis 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%.

Insider Transactions at Verisk Analytics

In other Verisk Analytics news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $271.33, for a total transaction of $54,266.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 15,808 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,289,184.64. This trade represents a 0.00 % 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 link. Insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

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.