Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC Purchases 2,323 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) by 286.8% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 3,133 shares of the business services provider's stock after buying an additional 2,323 shares during the quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC's holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $932,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Bennett Selby Investments LP raised its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 3.1% during the first quarter. Bennett Selby Investments LP now owns 1,208 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $359,000 after acquiring an additional 36 shares during the last quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC raised its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC now owns 1,213 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $334,000 after acquiring an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. Haverford Trust Co raised its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 5.4% during the fourth quarter. Haverford Trust Co now owns 903 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $249,000 after acquiring an additional 46 shares during the last quarter. Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV raised its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 5.1% during the first quarter. Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV now owns 944 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $281,000 after acquiring an additional 46 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ausdal Financial Partners Inc. raised its stake in Verisk Analytics by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Ausdal Financial Partners Inc. now owns 2,784 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $767,000 after buying an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.00% of the company's stock.

Verisk Analytics Stock Up 1.2%

NASDAQ:VRSK traded up $3.53 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $308.66. The company had a trading volume of 2,475,240 shares, compared to its average volume of 770,147. The company has a quick ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 26.13. The firm has a market cap of $43.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.19, a P/E/G ratio of 3.83 and a beta of 0.87. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $306.40 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $293.64. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a twelve month low of $257.59 and a twelve month high of $322.92.

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

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.58%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. Verisk Analytics's dividend payout ratio is currently 26.35%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO David J. Grover sold 5,705 shares of Verisk Analytics 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 12,937 shares in the company, valued at $3,980,456.16. This trade represents a 30.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Samuel G. Liss sold 11,656 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $313.06, for a total transaction of $3,649,027.36. Following the transaction, the director now owns 67,244 shares of the company's stock, valued at $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. Insiders sold 24,259 shares of company stock worth $7,553,769 over the last three months. 0.46% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on VRSK. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $320.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. UBS Group lifted their target price 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. Finally, Bank of America began coverage on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. They set an "underperform" rating and a $280.00 target price for the company. 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's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average 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.