Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB Takes $229,000 Position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund bought 854 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $229,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Marshall Financial Group LLC raised its position in Verisk Analytics by 0.8% in the third quarter. Marshall Financial Group LLC now owns 4,932 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,322,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the period. Signaturefd LLC increased its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 2,586 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $693,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Ascent Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 2,465 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $664,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the period. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC raised its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 5,109 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,369,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the period. Finally, Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI lifted its stake in Verisk Analytics by 2.2% in the third quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 2,025 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $543,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. 90.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verisk Analytics

In other news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $286.49, for a total transaction of $57,298.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 15,608 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,471,535.92. The trade was a 1.27 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Lee Shavel sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 54,163 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,517,157.87. This represents a 1.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 2,400 shares of company stock valued at $678,764 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:VRSK opened at $280.22 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $280.07 and a 200 day moving average of $273.24. 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 market cap of $39.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.72, a P/E/G ratio of 3.55 and a beta of 0.87. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 12 month low of $217.34 and a 12 month high of $296.58.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 firm 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 business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.52 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a $0.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.56%. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio is currently 24.34%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VRSK has been the topic of several research reports. Evercore ISI restated an “in-line” rating and issued a $279.00 target price on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $268.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Robert W. Baird upped 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. BMO Capital Markets lifted 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. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on shares of 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $289.80.

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.