B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. Sells 233 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. lowered its position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 22.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 795 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 233 shares during the period. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $214,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of VRSK. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 6.5% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,618,971 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,237,700,000 after purchasing an additional 283,653 shares during the period. Mizuho Securities USA LLC grew its position in Verisk Analytics by 2,380.6% during the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 272,965 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $73,144,000 after buying an additional 261,961 shares during the period. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. increased its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 60.4% during the second quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 541,426 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $145,941,000 after buying an additional 203,951 shares during the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP raised its position in Verisk Analytics by 46.7% in the third quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 614,831 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $164,750,000 after acquiring an additional 195,700 shares during the period. Finally, Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 158.2% during the 3rd quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC now owns 184,806 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $49,521,000 after acquiring an additional 113,230 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Verisk Analytics

In other Verisk Analytics news, CEO Lee Shavel sold 1,000 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 53,163 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,923,385.73. This trade represents a 1.85 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the company’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 $57,298.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 15,608 shares in the company, valued at $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. Insiders have sold 2,400 shares of company stock valued at $678,764 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

VRSK stock opened at $276.86 on Friday. 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 company’s fifty day moving average price is $280.36 and its 200-day moving average price is $273.54. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a one year low of $217.34 and a one year high of $296.58. The company has a market capitalization of $39.10 billion, a PE ratio of 43.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.55 and a beta of 0.87.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. The business had revenue of $725.30 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $722.19 million. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 32.65% and a return on equity of 274.13%. The business’s revenue was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.52 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

VRSK has been the subject of several analyst reports. Barclays upped their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $275.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Evercore ISI reaffirmed an “in-line” rating and issued a $279.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $263.00 to $276.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Morgan Stanley raised 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. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their price target 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. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $289.80.

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.