Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) Shares Sold by Stonehage Fleming Financial Services Holdings Ltd

Stonehage Fleming Financial Services Holdings Ltd decreased its position in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 2.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 642,364 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 15,466 shares during the quarter. Verisk Analytics makes up about 5.0% of Stonehage Fleming Financial Services Holdings Ltd’s holdings, making the stock its 7th largest position. Stonehage Fleming Financial Services Holdings Ltd owned 0.45% of Verisk Analytics worth $176,926,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 6.5% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,618,971 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,237,700,000 after buying an additional 283,653 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 6.8% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,231,201 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $331,476,000 after buying an additional 78,376 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 1.0% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 801,150 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $214,676,000 after purchasing an additional 8,262 shares during the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP lifted its stake in Verisk Analytics by 46.7% during the third quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 614,831 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $164,750,000 after buying an additional 195,700 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James & Associates lifted its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 385,195 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $103,217,000 after acquiring an additional 7,098 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Lee Shavel sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.71, for a total value of $280,710.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 53,163 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,923,385.73. This trade represents a 1.85 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $286.49, for a total transaction of $57,298.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 15,608 shares in the company, valued at $4,471,535.92. This represents a 1.27 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 5,490 shares of company stock worth $1,541,570. Corporate insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $283.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. 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. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $285.00 to $301.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Verisk Analytics from $263.00 to $276.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Barclays lowered Verisk Analytics from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $310.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Friday, January 10th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Verisk Analytics has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $293.11.

Verisk Analytics Trading Up 0.3 %

VRSK opened at $278.93 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 1-year low of $217.34 and a 1-year high of $296.58. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $281.49 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $274.97. The company has a market cap of $39.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 0.88.

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

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th were issued a dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.56%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 13th. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.34%.

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.