Empirical Finance LLC Acquires 101 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Empirical Finance LLC increased its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 2.0% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 5,131 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 101 shares during the quarter. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $1,375,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Legal & General Group Plc increased its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 7.4% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 1,618,266 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $436,204,000 after acquiring an additional 111,364 shares in the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc increased its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 5.5% during the 2nd quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 1,502,614 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $405,030,000 after purchasing an additional 78,008 shares in the last quarter. GUARDCAP ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd raised its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. GUARDCAP ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd now owns 1,137,069 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $268,041,000 after purchasing an additional 12,231 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 8.4% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,103,628 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $297,491,000 after purchasing an additional 85,202 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 6.7% during the second quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 613,185 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $165,284,000 after buying an additional 38,258 shares during the period. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ VRSK opened at $280.80 on Friday. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a twelve month low of $217.34 and a twelve month high of $291.42. The company has a market cap of $39.65 billion, a PE ratio of 43.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.59 and a beta of 0.86. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $271.31 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $266.46. 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 posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $1.67 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $725.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $722.19 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.52 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

The business 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. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.56%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. Verisk Analytics’s payout ratio is 24.34%.

Insider Activity at Verisk Analytics

In related news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $271.33, for a total value of $54,266.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 15,808 shares in the company, valued at $4,289,184.64. The trade was a 1.25 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have commented on VRSK. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Verisk Analytics from $263.00 to $276.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Verisk Analytics to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. Evercore ISI reiterated an “in-line” rating and issued a $279.00 price target on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $268.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on Verisk Analytics from $275.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus 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.