Insider Selling: Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) CEO Sells 1,000 Shares of Stock

Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) CEO Lee Shavel sold 1,000 shares of the firm’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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 54,163 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,517,157.87. This represents a 1.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link.

Lee Shavel also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Monday, November 18th, Lee Shavel sold 1,000 shares of Verisk Analytics stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.71, for a total value of $280,710.00.

Verisk Analytics Trading Up 0.9 %

Verisk Analytics stock opened at $284.20 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $271.86 and a 200 day moving average price of $267.79. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 52 week low of $217.34 and a 52 week high of $291.42. The stock has a market cap of $40.13 billion, a PE ratio of 44.34, a P/E/G ratio of 3.53 and a beta of 0.86. 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 (NASDAQ:VRSK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $1.67 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $722.19 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.52 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared 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. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. Verisk Analytics’s payout ratio is 24.34%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VRSK has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $282.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price 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. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on Verisk Analytics from $285.00 to $301.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Evercore ISI reaffirmed an “in-line” rating and set a $279.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price 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. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $285.80.

Institutional Trading of Verisk Analytics

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. KBC Group NV boosted its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 15.3% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 35,908 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $9,622,000 after acquiring an additional 4,767 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc raised its stake in Verisk Analytics by 5.7% during the third quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 44,290 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $11,868,000 after purchasing an additional 2,374 shares during the period. Diversified Trust Co acquired a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics in the 2nd quarter valued at $1,325,000. OFI Invest Asset Management grew its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 2,181.7% during the 2nd quarter. OFI Invest Asset Management now owns 2,875 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $723,000 after buying an additional 2,749 shares during the period. Finally, Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics during the 1st quarter worth $28,739,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

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.