Norris Perne & French LLP MI Purchases 1,126 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Norris Perne & French LLP MI boosted its holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 1.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 61,889 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,126 shares during the quarter. Norris Perne & French LLP MI’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $17,046,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in VRSK. Crews Bank & Trust acquired a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter worth approximately $55,000. DMC Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. DMC Group LLC now owns 2,672 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $736,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the period. Hanson & Doremus Investment Management bought a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter valued at $138,000. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. increased its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 9.0% during the fourth quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 119,408 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $32,889,000 after buying an additional 9,874 shares during the period. Finally, R Squared Ltd bought a new position in Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter worth $107,000. Institutional investors own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Verisk Analytics Trading Up 1.9 %

VRSK opened at $288.08 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $40.68 billion, a PE ratio of 44.94, a P/E/G ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.88. 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 fifty-two week low of $217.34 and a fifty-two week high of $296.58. The company’s 50-day moving average is $281.57 and its 200 day moving average is $275.11.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $1.67 earnings per share 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 analysts’ expectations of $722.19 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.52 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th were given a dividend of $0.39 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.54%. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio is currently 24.34%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, 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 value of $286,490.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 54,163 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,517,157.87. The trade was a 1.81 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the firm’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 sale, the chief financial officer now owns 15,608 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,471,535.92. This trade represents a 1.27 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 5,490 shares of company stock valued at $1,541,570 in the last 90 days. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have weighed in on VRSK shares. BMO Capital Markets increased 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. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Verisk Analytics from $285.00 to $301.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Barclays cut Verisk Analytics from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $310.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Friday, January 10th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $300.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased 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 note on Thursday, December 12th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $293.11.

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.