6,000 Shares in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) Purchased by GSA Capital Partners LLP

GSA Capital Partners LLP bought a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 6,000 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,608,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of VRSK. Empowered Funds LLC grew its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 85.9% during the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 2,762 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $651,000 after acquiring an additional 1,276 shares during the period. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 12.9% in the first quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 966 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $228,000 after purchasing an additional 110 shares during the period. Bleakley Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 4.7% in the first quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 3,532 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $833,000 after purchasing an additional 160 shares during the period. Entropy Technologies LP acquired a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the first quarter valued at approximately $907,000. Finally, State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System grew its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 15.8% in the first quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 183,252 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $43,198,000 after purchasing an additional 24,977 shares during the period. 90.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $4,289,184.64. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

Shares of Verisk Analytics stock opened at $287.92 on Wednesday. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a one year low of $217.34 and a one year high of $289.40. The company has a market cap of $40.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.92, a PEG ratio of 3.57 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. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $270.28 and its 200 day moving average price is $265.27.

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

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed 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 is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.54%. Verisk Analytics’s payout ratio is 24.34%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VRSK has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $243.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $268.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Barclays raised their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $275.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. BMO Capital Markets raised 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. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised Verisk Analytics to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Verisk Analytics currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target 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.