Groupama Asset Managment Sells 1,056 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Groupama Asset Managment decreased its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 27.6% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,769 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 1,056 shares during the period. Groupama Asset Managment’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $742,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics during the 2nd quarter valued at about $31,000. Chilton Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Verisk Analytics during the second quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in Verisk Analytics during the third quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Rothschild Investment LLC bought a new position in Verisk Analytics in the second quarter worth approximately $41,000. Finally, Kings Path Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics during the 2nd quarter worth $46,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Verisk Analytics Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of VRSK opened at $284.91 on Tuesday. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 1 year low of $217.34 and a 1 year high of $296.58. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $278.25 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $271.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.82. The firm has a market cap of $40.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.60 and a beta of 0.87.

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

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a $0.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.55%. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio is currently 24.34%.

Insider Activity at Verisk Analytics

In other news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the company’s 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 sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 15,808 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,289,184.64. This represents a 1.25 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Lee Shavel sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $286.49, for a total transaction of $286,490.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 54,163 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,517,157.87. This trade represents a 1.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 2,400 shares of company stock valued at $678,764. Insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on VRSK shares. Barclays upped their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $275.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on Verisk Analytics from $268.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Evercore ISI reaffirmed an “in-line” rating and set a $279.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $285.00 to $301.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $263.00 to $276.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Six 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $285.80.

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.