Diversify Wealth Management LLC Takes $452,000 Position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Diversify Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 1,545 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $452,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VRSK. Bennett Selby Investments LP lifted its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 3.1% during the 1st 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 period. Private Trust Co. NA lifted its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 10.2% during the 1st quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 389 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $116,000 after acquiring an additional 36 shares during the period. Haverford Trust Co lifted its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 5.4% during the 4th 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 period. Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV lifted its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 5.1% during the 1st 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 period. Finally, Greenleaf Trust raised its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 9,870 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $2,938,000 after buying an additional 47 shares in the last quarter. 90.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Bank of America assumed 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. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on Verisk Analytics from $320.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on Verisk Analytics from $295.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, May 12th. One 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. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $302.40.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

VRSK traded up $1.12 on Thursday, reaching $302.60. The stock had a trading volume of 526,729 shares, compared to its average volume of 778,979. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $257.59 and a fifty-two week high of $322.92. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $309.31 and a 200-day moving average of $296.01. The company has a current ratio of 1.27, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 26.13. The company has a market capitalization of $42.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.74 and a beta of 0.86.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The business services provider reported $1.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.68 by $0.05. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 396.08% and a net margin of 33.13%. The business had revenue of $753.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $750.31 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.63 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Samuel G. Liss sold 11,656 shares of the 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 sale, the director owned 67,244 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $21,051,406.64. This represents a 14.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 326 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $300.86, for a total value of $98,080.36. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 9,319 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,803,714.34. The trade was a 3.38% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 28,825 shares of company stock worth $8,947,730. Company 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.