Freedom Investment Management Inc. Cuts Stock Holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Freedom Investment Management Inc. reduced its stake in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 11.1% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 3,264 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 409 shares during the quarter. Freedom Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $875,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 6.5% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,618,971 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,237,700,000 after buying an additional 283,653 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc raised its position in Verisk Analytics by 7.4% during 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 in the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc lifted its stake in Verisk Analytics by 5.5% during the second quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 1,502,614 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $405,030,000 after purchasing an additional 78,008 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 8.4% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,103,628 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $297,491,000 after purchasing an additional 85,202 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 801,150 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $214,676,000 after purchasing an additional 8,262 shares during the last quarter. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Evercore ISI reaffirmed an “in-line” rating and issued a $279.00 target price on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Barclays upped their price objective 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. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $263.00 to $276.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $282.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, 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 report on Thursday, October 17th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $285.80.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the 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 transaction, 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Lee Shavel sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.71, for a total transaction of $280,710.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 53,163 shares in the company, valued at $14,923,385.73. The trade was a 1.85 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 2,400 shares of company stock worth $678,764. 0.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Verisk Analytics Stock Down 0.1 %

NASDAQ VRSK opened at $294.56 on Friday. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 1 year low of $217.34 and a 1 year high of $296.58. The stock has a market capitalization of $41.59 billion, a PE ratio of 45.95, a PEG ratio of 3.69 and a beta of 0.86. 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 business’s 50-day moving average is $274.83 and its 200 day moving average is $269.59.

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

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a dividend of $0.39 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.53%. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio is presently 24.34%.

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.