910 Shares in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) Acquired by Buffington Mohr McNeal

Buffington Mohr McNeal bought a new stake in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm bought 910 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $271,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Louisbourg Investments Inc. acquired a new position in Verisk Analytics in the 1st quarter valued at $25,000. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 6,050.0% during 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 holdings 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 worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 116 shares during the period. Finally, Minot DeBlois Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter worth about $39,000. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

VRSK stock traded up $2.75 during trading on Thursday, hitting $303.96. 963,566 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 775,491. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a one year low of $257.59 and a one year high of $322.92. The stock has a market cap of $42.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.50, a P/E/G ratio of 3.73 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $307.57 and a 200 day simple moving average of $294.07. The company has a current ratio of 1.27, a quick 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 analysts' consensus estimates of $1.68 by $0.05. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 33.13% and a return on equity of 396.08%. The company had revenue of $753.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $750.31 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.63 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Verisk Analytics news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 300 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $295.38, for a total value of $88,614.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 16,665 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,922,507.70. The trade was a 1.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Samuel G. Liss sold 11,656 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $313.06, for a total transaction of $3,649,027.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 67,244 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $21,051,406.64. This represents a 14.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 24,259 shares of company stock valued at $7,553,769. Insiders own 0.46% of the company's stock.

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.