Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) Shares Sold by Pitcairn Co.

Pitcairn Co. lessened its stake in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 31.0% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,137 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 3,664 shares during the period. Pitcairn Co.’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $2,180,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Cerity Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 16.6% in the third quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 47,233 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $12,657,000 after buying an additional 6,736 shares during the last quarter. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 899.1% in the third quarter. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 11,919 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,913,000 after buying an additional 10,726 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. increased its stake in Verisk Analytics by 13.7% during the third quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 4,953 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,327,000 after purchasing an additional 598 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 1.0% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 801,150 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $214,676,000 after purchasing an additional 8,262 shares during the period. Finally, Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. raised its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 2.8% during the third quarter. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. now owns 4,327 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,159,000 after purchasing an additional 119 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verisk Analytics

In related news, CEO Lee Shavel sold 1,000 shares of the firm’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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 53,163 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,923,385.73. This trade represents a 1.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $286.49, for a total value of $57,298.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 15,608 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,471,535.92. The trade was a 1.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 2,400 shares of company stock valued at $678,764. Company insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Verisk Analytics Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ:VRSK opened at $290.73 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $41.05 billion, a PE ratio of 45.36, a P/E/G ratio of 3.60 and a beta of 0.86. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $272.66 and its 200 day moving average price is $268.42. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $217.34 and a fifty-two week high of $291.42. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $725.30 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $722.19 million. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 32.65% and a return on equity of 274.13%. Verisk Analytics’s quarterly revenue was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.52 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid 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 0.54%. Verisk Analytics’s payout ratio is 24.34%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on VRSK shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $282.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $243.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Barclays raised their target price on Verisk Analytics from $275.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $268.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $263.00 to $276.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $285.80.

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.