DAVENPORT & Co LLC Buys 944 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

DAVENPORT & Co LLC grew its stake in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) by 17.3% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,388 shares of the business services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 944 shares during the quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC's holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $1,901,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in VRSK. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased 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 worth $4,440,000 after acquiring an additional 10,331 shares in the last quarter. Simon Quick Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics in the 1st quarter worth about $237,000. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 7.7% in the 4th 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. Finally, Spire Wealth Management increased its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 71.2% in the 1st quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 2,302 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $685,000 after acquiring an additional 957 shares in the last quarter. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $285.86, for a total transaction of $337,028.94. Following the sale, the director owned 13,786 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,940,865.96. This trade represents a 7.88% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 300 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $295.38, for a total transaction of $88,614.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 16,665 shares in the company, valued at $4,922,507.70. This trade represents a 1.77% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 24,259 shares of company stock worth $7,553,769. 0.46% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

Shares of VRSK stock opened at $303.96 on Friday. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a one year low of $257.59 and a one year high of $322.92. The company's 50-day moving average is $308.24 and its 200 day moving average is $294.39. The company has a market capitalization of $42.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.77 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 26.13, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.27.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The business services provider reported $1.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.68 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $753.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.63 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently issued reports on VRSK shares. Robert W. Baird increased their price target 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 increased their price target 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 started coverage on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. They issued an "underperform" rating and a $280.00 price target for the company. One research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Verisk Analytics presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $302.40.

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.

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