FORA Capital LLC Takes Position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

FORA Capital LLC acquired a new position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 11,635 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $3,118,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VRSK. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $31,000. Chilton Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the second quarter worth $34,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics during the 3rd quarter worth $34,000. Rothschild Investment LLC acquired a new position in Verisk Analytics in the 2nd quarter valued at $41,000. Finally, Kings Path Partners LLC acquired a new position in Verisk Analytics in the 2nd quarter valued at $46,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

NASDAQ VRSK traded up $1.22 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $295.97. 36,377 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 781,376. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 1-year low of $217.34 and a 1-year high of $296.59. The company has a market cap of $41.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.26, a P/E/G ratio of 3.65 and a beta of 0.86. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $273.66 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $269.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.82.

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. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 274.13% and a net margin of 32.65%. The business had revenue of $725.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $722.19 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.52 EPS. Verisk Analytics’s quarterly revenue was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be given 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 0.53%. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.34%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Verisk Analytics news, CEO Lee Shavel sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.71, for a total value of $280,710.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 53,163 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,923,385.73. This trade represents a 1.85 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $286.49, for a total transaction of $57,298.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 15,608 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,471,535.92. This represents a 1.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 2,400 shares of company stock valued at $678,764. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have issued reports on VRSK. Evercore ISI restated an “in-line” rating and set a $279.00 price target on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $268.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $282.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Verisk Analytics from $263.00 to $276.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Barclays raised 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 given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target 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.