1,320 Shares in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) Purchased by Asahi Life Asset Management CO. LTD.

Asahi Life Asset Management CO. LTD. acquired a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 1,320 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $393,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in VRSK. Louisbourg Investments Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the 1st quarter valued at about $25,000. Global Financial Private Client LLC raised its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 966.7% in the 1st quarter. Global Financial Private Client LLC now owns 128 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 116 shares in the last quarter. Minot DeBlois Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter valued at about $39,000. Wayfinding Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics during the 1st quarter valued at about $48,000. Finally, NBC Securities Inc. bought a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics during the 1st quarter valued at about $60,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.00% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on VRSK shares. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $320.00 to $335.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. UBS Group increased their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $295.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, May 12th. Finally, Bank of America started coverage on Verisk Analytics in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. They set an "underperform" rating and a $280.00 price objective on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $302.40.

Verisk Analytics Trading Down 0.8%

NASDAQ VRSK opened at $300.51 on Monday. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $257.59 and a fifty-two week high of $322.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 26.13, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.27. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $309.29 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $295.56. The stock has a market cap of $42.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.73 and a beta of 0.86.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The business services provider reported $1.73 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.68 by $0.05. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 396.08% and a net margin of 33.13%. The business had revenue of $753.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $750.31 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.63 EPS. The business's revenue was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th were issued a $0.45 dividend. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.60%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 13th. Verisk Analytics's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 26.35%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 326 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $300.86, for a total value of $98,080.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 9,319 shares in the company, valued at $2,803,714.34. This trade represents a 3.38% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 5,419 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $300.86, for a total value of $1,630,360.34. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 55,913 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $16,821,985.18. The trade was a 8.84% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 28,825 shares of company stock worth $8,945,180. Insiders own 0.46% 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.

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