Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) Shares Purchased by Cetera Investment Advisers

Key Points

• Cetera Investment Advisers increased its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 6.1%, owning approximately $21.98 million worth of shares as of the latest SEC filing.
• Verisk Analytics reported a net margin of 33.13% and a year-over-year revenue growth of 7.0%, with quarterly earnings beating estimates by $0.05.
• Analysts hold an average rating of "Hold" for Verisk Analytics, with a target price ranging from $280.00 to $335.00 following recent coverage updates.

Cetera Investment Advisers increased its position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) by 6.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 73,840 shares of the business services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 4,247 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers owned approximately 0.05% of Verisk Analytics worth $21,976,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in Verisk Analytics by 225.2% during the 1st quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 14,919 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $4,440,000 after acquiring an additional 10,331 shares during the period. Simon Quick Advisors LLC bought a new position in Verisk Analytics during the 1st quarter valued at about $237,000. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. bought a new position in Verisk Analytics during the 1st quarter valued at about $202,000. Vontobel Holding Ltd. lifted its stake in Verisk Analytics by 21.9% during the 1st quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 77,807 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $23,157,000 after acquiring an additional 13,995 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in Verisk Analytics by 7.7% during the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 747,337 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $205,839,000 after acquiring an additional 53,502 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 90.00% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Verisk Analytics

In other Verisk Analytics news, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 326 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $300.86, for a total value of $98,080.36. Following the transaction, the insider owned 9,319 shares in the company, valued at $2,803,714.34. The trade was a 3.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, 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 value of $1,755,314.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 12,937 shares in the company, valued at $3,980,456.16. This trade represents a 30.60% 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 over the last three months. 0.46% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Verisk Analytics Trading Up 0.7%

Shares of NASDAQ:VRSK traded up $2.01 on Thursday, hitting $277.48. 596,599 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 866,144. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 26.13, a current ratio of 1.27 and a quick ratio of 1.27. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $306.96 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $297.24. The stock has a market capitalization of $38.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.73 and a beta of 0.86. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 12 month low of $257.59 and a 12 month high of $322.92.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The business services provider reported $1.88 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.77 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $772.60 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $767.91 million. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 396.08% and a net margin of 33.13%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.74 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Monday, September 15th will be issued a $0.45 dividend. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.65%. Verisk Analytics's payout ratio is currently 26.35%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VRSK has been the topic of several recent research reports. Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. They issued an "underperform" rating and a $280.00 price objective on the stock. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $320.00 to $335.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $320.00 to $300.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Thursday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $300.40.

Verisk Analytics 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.