Avantax Advisory Services Inc. Sells 6,463 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Avantax Advisory Services Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) by 45.6% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 7,721 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 6,463 shares during the quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc.'s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $2,298,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in Verisk Analytics by 36,332.8% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,204,468 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $358,474,000 after buying an additional 1,201,162 shares in the last quarter. Raiffeisen Bank International AG bought a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter worth $70,005,000. BLI Banque de Luxembourg Investments bought a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter worth $68,908,000. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. lifted its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 65.7% in the fourth quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. now owns 594,356 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $163,703,000 after purchasing an additional 235,642 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 23.6% in the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 1,219,674 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $335,935,000 after purchasing an additional 233,011 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.00% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on VRSK. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $320.00 to $300.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. They issued an "underperform" rating and a $280.00 price objective on the stock. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $317.00 to $319.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $320.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $302.30.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:VRSK traded down $6.82 on Friday, hitting $271.89. The company had a trading volume of 1,544,019 shares, compared to its average volume of 884,367. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 1-year low of $259.22 and a 1-year high of $322.92. The stock has a market cap of $38.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.89, a P/E/G ratio of 3.51 and a beta of 0.86. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $306.24 and a 200 day moving average price of $297.26. The company has a current ratio of 1.53, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.34.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The business services provider reported $1.88 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.77 by $0.11. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 30.67% and a return on equity of 460.89%. The firm had revenue of $772.60 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $767.91 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.74 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Monday, September 15th will be paid a $0.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 15th. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Verisk Analytics's dividend payout ratio is 27.73%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO David J. Grover sold 5,705 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.68, for a total transaction of $1,755,314.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 12,937 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,980,456.16. This represents a 30.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 326 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $300.86, for a total transaction of $98,080.36. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 9,319 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,803,714.34. This represents a 3.38% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 28,825 shares of company stock valued at $8,947,730 in the last three months. 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.