Plato Investment Management Ltd Purchases 221 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Plato Investment Management Ltd lifted its position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 5.0% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 4,655 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 221 shares during the period. Plato Investment Management Ltd’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $1,255,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Verisk Analytics by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,407,133 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,919,008,000 after purchasing an additional 170,620 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter worth approximately $374,530,000. TD Asset Management Inc grew its position 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 valued at $405,030,000 after buying an additional 78,008 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 90.5% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,141,516 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $272,663,000 after buying an additional 542,432 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GUARDCAP ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd increased its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 1.1% during the first quarter. GUARDCAP ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd now owns 1,137,069 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $268,041,000 after buying an additional 12,231 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Verisk Analytics news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $277.38, for a total transaction of $55,476.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 16,408 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,551,251.04. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Verisk Analytics news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $277.38, for a total transaction of $55,476.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 16,408 shares in the company, valued at $4,551,251.04. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 326 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $272.22, for a total transaction of $88,743.72. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 7,470 shares in the company, valued at $2,033,483.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:VRSK opened at $268.79 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $38.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.15, a P/E/G ratio of 3.42 and a beta of 0.86. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $271.71 and a 200 day moving average price of $254.10. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $215.32 and a fifty-two week high of $287.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.86, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 0.95.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The business services provider reported $1.74 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.64 by $0.10. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 32.03% and a return on equity of 252.11%. The business had revenue of $716.80 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $722.45 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.51 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Sunday, September 15th will be paid a $0.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.58%. Verisk Analytics’s payout ratio is currently 29.10%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VRSK has been the topic of several analyst reports. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $275.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $282.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Wells Fargo & Company raised Verisk Analytics to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $278.00 to $263.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $255.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Verisk Analytics presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $275.23.

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.