World Investment Advisors Buys New Stake in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

World Investment Advisors purchased a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 3,576 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,064,000.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Louisbourg Investments Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the 1st quarter worth about $25,000. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 6,050.0% in the 4th quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 123 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 121 shares during the period. Global Financial Private Client LLC increased its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 966.7% during the 1st quarter. Global Financial Private Client LLC now owns 128 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 116 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Minot DeBlois Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter valued at $39,000. 90.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 300 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $295.38, for a total value of $88,614.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 16,665 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,922,507.70. This trade represents a 1.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 326 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $300.86, for a total transaction of $98,080.36. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 9,319 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,803,714.34. The trade was a 3.38% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 28,825 shares of company stock valued at $8,945,180. 0.46% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

Shares of VRSK traded down $5.63 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $302.54. The company had a trading volume of 998,573 shares, compared to its average volume of 858,362. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 52-week low of $257.59 and a 52-week high of $322.92. The stock has a market capitalization of $42.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.30, a PEG ratio of 3.77 and a beta of 0.86. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $308.64 and a two-hundred day moving average of $294.87. The company has a quick ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 26.13.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results 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. The business had revenue of $753.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $750.31 million. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 396.08% and a net margin of 33.13%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.63 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th were issued a dividend of $0.45 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 13th. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.59%. Verisk Analytics's payout ratio is currently 26.35%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

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.