Unigestion Holding SA Acquires 49,910 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Unigestion Holding SA increased its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 77.5% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 114,351 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 49,910 shares during the period. Unigestion Holding SA’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $30,641,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Diversified Trust Co bought a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics in the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,325,000. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC grew its stake in Verisk Analytics by 4.1% in the second quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 14,432 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,890,000 after purchasing an additional 573 shares in the last quarter. PGGM Investments increased its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 1.5% during the 2nd quarter. PGGM Investments now owns 33,497 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $9,029,000 after purchasing an additional 479 shares during the last quarter. 180 Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $217,000. Finally, Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft bought a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $427,000. Institutional investors own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Verisk Analytics

In other news, CEO Lee Shavel sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 owns 54,163 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,517,157.87. The trade was a 1.81 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $286.49, for a total transaction of $57,298.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 15,608 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,471,535.92. This represents a 1.27 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 2,400 shares of company stock worth $678,764 in the last quarter. 0.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Verisk Analytics Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ VRSK opened at $286.68 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $40.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.72, a PEG ratio of 3.60 and a beta of 0.87. 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 stock has a 50-day moving average price of $278.25 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $271.82. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 12 month low of $217.34 and a 12 month high of $296.58.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $1.67 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%. The firm’s revenue was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.52 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a $0.39 dividend. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio is currently 24.34%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently weighed in on VRSK. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $275.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $268.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $263.00 to $276.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $285.00 to $301.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Verisk Analytics to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price 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.