Shell Asset Management Co. Decreases Holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Shell Asset Management Co. reduced its position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 31.2% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 3,854 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 1,749 shares during the period. Shell Asset Management Co.’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $909,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new position in Verisk Analytics during the 1st quarter worth $28,000. CVA Family Office LLC purchased a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter worth approximately $32,000. DSM Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Finally, Global Retirement Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 48.5% in the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 150 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 49 shares during the last quarter. 90.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Verisk Analytics Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of Verisk Analytics stock opened at $279.97 on Friday. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a twelve month low of $215.32 and a twelve month high of $282.21. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $266.92 and its 200 day moving average price is $247.59. The company has a current ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.94. The firm has a market capitalization of $39.95 billion, a PE ratio of 52.23, a P/E/G ratio of 3.43 and a beta of 0.84.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The business services provider reported $1.63 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.52 by $0.11. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 268.19% and a net margin of 28.45%. The business had revenue of $704.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $699.07 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.29 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $255.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on Verisk Analytics from $250.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 25th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $238.00 to $241.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $258.54.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 1,511 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $248.88, for a total value of $376,057.68. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 52,500 shares in the company, valued at $13,066,200. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $262.31, for a total value of $52,462.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 16,608 shares in the company, valued at $4,356,444.48. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 1,511 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $248.88, for a total value of $376,057.68. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 52,500 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,066,200. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 2,237 shares of company stock valued at $572,739 in the last 90 days. 0.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.