Albion Financial Group UT Takes Position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Albion Financial Group UT bought a new position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 450 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $124,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. grew its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 14.9% in the 2nd quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 1,276 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $344,000 after purchasing an additional 165 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in Verisk Analytics by 55.9% in the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 410 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $107,000 after acquiring an additional 147 shares during the period. Public Sector Pension Investment Board raised its stake in Verisk Analytics by 76.7% during the second quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 5,683 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,532,000 after acquiring an additional 2,467 shares in the last quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics during the second quarter valued at $240,000. Finally, BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 58.0% during the second quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 27,343 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $7,370,000 after acquiring an additional 10,032 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on VRSK. BMO Capital Markets increased 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 report on Friday, November 1st. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $283.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Barclays downgraded Verisk Analytics from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $310.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Friday, January 10th. Evercore ISI reaffirmed an “in-line” rating and set a $279.00 price target on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $300.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $293.11.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verisk Analytics

In other Verisk Analytics news, CEO Lee Shavel sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $286.49, for a total value of $286,490.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 54,163 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,517,157.87. This represents a 1.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.06, for a total value of $595,428.66. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 9,066 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,557,155.96. The trade was a 18.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 5,490 shares of company stock valued at $1,541,570. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Verisk Analytics Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of VRSK opened at $279.35 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $39.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.58, a PEG ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 0.88. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 52 week low of $217.34 and a 52 week high of $296.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.82. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $281.91 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $274.88.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last posted its quarterly 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. The business had revenue of $725.30 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $722.19 million. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 274.13% and a net margin of 32.65%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.52 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th were issued a $0.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.56%. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio is currently 24.34%.

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.