Simon Quick Advisors LLC Invests $237,000 in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Simon Quick Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSKFree Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 795 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $237,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Bennett Selby Investments LP grew its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 3.1% during the 1st quarter. Bennett Selby Investments LP now owns 1,208 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $359,000 after buying an additional 36 shares in the last quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC grew its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC now owns 1,213 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $334,000 after buying an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Bell Bank lifted its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 4.7% during the 4th quarter. Bell Bank now owns 1,005 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $277,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. Haverford Trust Co lifted its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 5.4% during the 4th quarter. Haverford Trust Co now owns 903 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $249,000 after purchasing an additional 46 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ausdal Financial Partners Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Ausdal Financial Partners Inc. now owns 2,784 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $767,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on VRSK. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $297.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. UBS Group upped their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $295.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, May 12th. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $320.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Bank of America began coverage on Verisk Analytics in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $280.00 price objective for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Verisk Analytics currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $302.40.

View Our Latest Research Report on Verisk Analytics

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO David J. Grover sold 5,705 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $307.68, for a total value of $1,755,314.40. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 12,937 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,980,456.16. This represents a 30.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Samuel G. Liss sold 11,656 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $313.06, for a total value of $3,649,027.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 67,244 shares in the company, valued at $21,051,406.64. This represents a 14.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 24,259 shares of company stock valued at $7,553,769. Company insiders own 0.46% of the company’s stock.

Verisk Analytics Trading Down 1.1%

Verisk Analytics stock opened at $310.41 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $303.01 and a two-hundred day moving average of $292.39. 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 one year low of $257.59 and a one year high of $322.92. The stock has a market cap of $43.42 billion, a PE ratio of 48.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.87.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSKGet Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The business services provider reported $1.73 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.68 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $753.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $750.31 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.63 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be issued a $0.45 dividend. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio is presently 26.35%.

Verisk Analytics announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, February 26th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the business services provider to purchase up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Verisk Analytics Profile

(Free Report)

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.

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Institutional Ownership by Quarter for Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK)

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