Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA Purchases New Shares in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA acquired a new position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 3,509 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $973,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Sanctuary Advisors LLC increased its stake in Verisk Analytics by 188.2% during the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 25,637 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $7,454,000 after acquiring an additional 16,742 shares during the last quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $212,000. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 899.1% during the 3rd quarter. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 11,919 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,913,000 after buying an additional 10,726 shares during the period. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd lifted its position in 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 worth $4,516,000 after buying an additional 13,943 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV increased its position in Verisk Analytics by 15.3% during 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. 90.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

VRSK opened at $285.46 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $40.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.53, a PEG ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 12-month low of $217.34 and a 12-month high of $296.58. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $281.49 and its 200-day simple moving average is $274.95.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $1.67 earnings per share (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 company had revenue of $725.30 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $722.19 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.52 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th were issued a $0.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.55%. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio is presently 24.34%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on VRSK shares. Evercore ISI restated an “in-line” rating and issued a $279.00 target price on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $263.00 to $276.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 target price on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on 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, Barclays cut Verisk Analytics from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $310.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Friday, January 10th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Verisk Analytics currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $293.11.

Insider Transactions at Verisk Analytics

In other news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the 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 sale, the chief financial officer now owns 15,608 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,471,535.92. This represents a 1.27 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.06, for a total value of $595,428.66. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 9,066 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,557,155.96. The trade was a 18.89 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 5,490 shares of company stock valued at $1,541,570. Corporate insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

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.