Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank Raises Position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank increased its holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 14.4% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 70,667 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,884 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank owned 0.05% of Verisk Analytics worth $18,936,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Marshall Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 0.8% in the 3rd 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 lifted its position in Verisk Analytics by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 2,586 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $693,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Brookstone Capital Management grew its position in 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 acquiring an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Ascent Group LLC lifted its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 2,465 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $664,000 after buying an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Lee Shavel sold 1,000 shares of Verisk Analytics 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 53,163 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,923,385.73. The trade was a 1.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $271.33, for a total transaction of $54,266.00. Following 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 1.25 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 2,400 shares of company stock valued at $678,764 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Verisk Analytics from $285.00 to $301.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $263.00 to $276.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Evercore ISI restated an “in-line” rating and set a $279.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $268.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised Verisk Analytics to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. Six research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, Verisk Analytics has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $285.80.

Verisk Analytics Trading Down 0.1 %

NASDAQ:VRSK opened at $294.21 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $41.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.90, a PEG ratio of 3.69 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, Inc. has a 1 year low of $217.34 and a 1 year high of $296.58. The business has a fifty day moving average of $275.42 and a 200-day moving average of $269.93.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $1.67 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.07. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 32.65% and a return on equity of 274.13%. The business had revenue of $725.30 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $722.19 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.52 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued 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 yield of 0.53%. Verisk Analytics’s payout ratio is 24.34%.

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.