Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC Acquires 722 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC lifted its position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 15.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 5,478 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 722 shares during the period. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $1,509,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in VRSK. Sanctuary Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 188.2% in the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 25,637 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $7,454,000 after purchasing an additional 16,742 shares in the last quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter valued at $212,000. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Verisk Analytics by 899.1% during the third quarter. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 11,919 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,913,000 after purchasing an additional 10,726 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd raised its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 479.1% in the third quarter. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd now owns 16,853 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,516,000 after acquiring an additional 13,943 shares during the period. Finally, KBC Group NV raised its stake 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 valued at $9,622,000 after acquiring an additional 4,767 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Verisk Analytics Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:VRSK opened at $278.93 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $281.49 and its 200 day moving average price is $274.97. The stock has a market cap of $39.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 0.88. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $217.34 and a fifty-two week high of $296.58. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $1.67 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $725.30 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $722.19 million. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 32.65% and a return on equity of 274.13%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.52 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction on 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 owns 15,608 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,471,535.92. The trade was a 1.27 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Lee Shavel sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $286.49, for a total transaction of $286,490.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 54,163 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,517,157.87. The trade was a 1.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 5,490 shares of company stock worth $1,541,570. Corporate insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on VRSK shares. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $263.00 to $276.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Evercore ISI reaffirmed an “in-line” rating and issued a $279.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $283.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $285.00 to $301.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $300.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Verisk Analytics has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $293.11.

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.