Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS Acquires 450 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS increased its position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 0.6% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 82,037 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 450 shares during the quarter. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $21,983,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $31,000. Chilton Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $34,000. Rothschild Investment LLC purchased a new stake in Verisk Analytics during the 2nd quarter valued at $41,000. Kings Path Partners LLC bought a new position in Verisk Analytics in the second quarter valued at about $46,000. Finally, Crewe Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics during the 1st quarter valued at about $49,000. Institutional investors own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on VRSK. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $243.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $285.00 to $301.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $282.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $268.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $275.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note 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 given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $285.80.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

NASDAQ:VRSK traded down $0.32 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $278.81. 26,004 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 791,310. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.82. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 52-week low of $217.34 and a 52-week high of $287.13. The stock has a market capitalization of $39.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.55, a PEG ratio of 3.48 and a beta of 0.86. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $269.62 and its 200-day moving average price is $263.70.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $1.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.07. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 274.13% and a net margin of 32.65%. The firm had revenue of $725.30 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $722.19 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.52 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current 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 issued a dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.56%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.34%.

Insider Activity at Verisk Analytics

In other Verisk Analytics news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $271.33, for a total value of $54,266.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 15,808 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,289,184.64. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Verisk Analytics 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.