1,660 Shares in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) Purchased by Convergence Investment Partners LLC

Convergence Investment Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 1,660 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $494,000.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Verisk Analytics Trading Up 0.6%

Shares of NASDAQ VRSK traded up $1.87 during trading on Friday, reaching $297.96. The company had a trading volume of 602,534 shares, compared to its average volume of 858,265. The company's fifty day moving average price is $308.70 and its 200-day moving average price is $296.83. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 12 month low of $257.59 and a 12 month high of $322.92. The stock has a market cap of $41.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.63, a PEG ratio of 3.77 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a quick ratio of 1.27, a current 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 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.68 by $0.05. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 396.08% and a net margin of 33.13%. The company had revenue of $753.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $750.31 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.63 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th were given a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.60%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 13th. Verisk Analytics's payout ratio is 26.35%.

Insider Activity at Verisk Analytics

In other Verisk Analytics news, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 326 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $300.86, for a total transaction of $98,080.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 9,319 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,803,714.34. This represents a 3.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Samuel G. Liss sold 11,656 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, June 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $313.06, for a total value of $3,649,027.36. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 67,244 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $21,051,406.64. This trade represents a 14.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 ninety days. Insiders own 0.46% of the company's stock.

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.