Community Financial Services Group LLC Acquires 955 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Community Financial Services Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) by 6.8% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 14,934 shares of the business services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 955 shares during the quarter. Community Financial Services Group LLC's holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $4,445,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in VRSK. Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 8.1% in the 4th quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 5,210,080 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,435,012,000 after buying an additional 392,270 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,691,016 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,292,047,000 after buying an additional 72,045 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,811,563 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,051,300,000 after buying an additional 19,423 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $526,676,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 9.6% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,654,826 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $455,789,000 after buying an additional 144,599 shares during the last quarter. 90.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VRSK has been the subject of several research reports. Bank of America initiated coverage on Verisk Analytics in a report on Thursday, April 10th. They set an "underperform" rating and a $280.00 price target for the company. UBS Group raised their price target on Verisk Analytics from $295.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, May 12th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $297.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Verisk Analytics from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their price target on Verisk Analytics from $320.00 to $335.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $302.40.

Insider Activity at Verisk Analytics

In related news, 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 value of $3,649,027.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 67,244 shares of the company's stock, valued at $21,051,406.64. The trade was a 14.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 5,419 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $318.10, for a total value of $1,723,783.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 56,701 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $18,036,588.10. This trade represents a 8.72% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 24,259 shares of company stock valued at $7,553,769 over the last quarter. 0.46% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Verisk Analytics Stock Up 0.8%

VRSK opened at $308.41 on Tuesday. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $257.59 and a fifty-two week high of $322.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 26.13, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.27. The company has a market capitalization of $43.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.16, a P/E/G ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 0.87. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $305.31 and a 200-day moving average of $293.09.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) last posted 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. The company 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 company's revenue was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.63 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

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

Verisk Analytics declared that its board has approved a share buyback plan on Wednesday, February 26th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the business services provider to buy up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

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.

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