Baron Wealth Management LLC Sells 38 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Baron Wealth Management LLC lessened its position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 1.6% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,317 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 38 shares during the quarter. Baron Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $621,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. KBC Group NV increased its stake in 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 last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc grew its stake in shares of 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 valued at $11,868,000 after buying an additional 2,374 shares during the last quarter. Diversified Trust Co bought a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics during the second quarter valued at about $1,325,000. OFI Invest Asset Management grew its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 2,181.7% during the second 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 last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB bought a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics during the first quarter valued at about $28,739,000. Institutional investors own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on VRSK shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised Verisk Analytics to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $268.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $275.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. Evercore ISI reiterated an “in-line” rating and set a $279.00 target price on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $243.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $285.80.

Insider Activity at Verisk Analytics

In other news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $286.49, for a total transaction of $57,298.00. Following the completion of the sale, 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Lee Shavel sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.71, for a total transaction of $280,710.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 53,163 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,923,385.73. The trade was a 1.85 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 2,400 shares of company stock valued at $678,764 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

Shares of VRSK opened at $280.36 on Tuesday. 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 one year low of $217.34 and a one year high of $291.42. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $271.45 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $267.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $39.59 billion, a PE ratio of 43.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.52 and a beta of 0.86.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $1.67 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 period last year, the business posted $1.52 earnings per share. Verisk Analytics’s quarterly revenue was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.39 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.56%. Verisk Analytics’s payout ratio is 24.34%.

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.