D.A. Davidson & CO. Buys 317 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

D.A. Davidson & CO. increased its position in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 4.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 7,453 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 317 shares during the quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO.’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $1,997,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of VRSK. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 131.6% in the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 45,960 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $10,832,000 after buying an additional 26,115 shares during the period. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 29.5% during the first quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 1,623 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $383,000 after purchasing an additional 370 shares during the period. Tidal Investments LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 164.0% during the 1st quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 6,193 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,459,000 after purchasing an additional 3,847 shares in the last quarter. Comerica Bank grew its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 3.4% in the 1st quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 34,857 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $8,217,000 after purchasing an additional 1,140 shares during the period. Finally, Atria Investments Inc increased its stake in Verisk Analytics by 5.0% during the 1st quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 19,088 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,500,000 after purchasing an additional 914 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Verisk Analytics

In other Verisk Analytics news, CEO Lee Shavel sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $286.49, for a total value of $286,490.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 54,163 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,517,157.87. This represents a 1.81 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 owns 15,608 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,471,535.92. This trade represents a 1.27 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 2,400 shares of company stock worth $678,764. Company insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays upped their price target on shares of 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 increased their target price on Verisk Analytics from $263.00 to $276.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Evercore ISI reissued an “in-line” rating and issued a $279.00 price target on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company raised Verisk Analytics to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Verisk Analytics from $268.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $285.80.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

NASDAQ VRSK opened at $294.21 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $41.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.69 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $275.42 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $269.93. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 1 year low of $217.34 and a 1 year high of $296.58.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $1.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $725.30 million during 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 revenue was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.52 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The firm 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. Verisk Analytics’s payout ratio is presently 24.34%.

Verisk Analytics 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.