MQS Management LLC Buys New Shares in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

MQS Management LLC bought a new position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 1,945 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $579,000.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in VRSK. Louisbourg Investments Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics in the first quarter worth approximately $25,000. Global Financial Private Client LLC increased its stake in Verisk Analytics by 966.7% in the 1st quarter. Global Financial Private Client LLC now owns 128 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 116 shares during the period. Minot DeBlois Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Wayfinding Financial LLC acquired a new position in Verisk Analytics in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $48,000. Finally, NBC Securities Inc. acquired a new position in Verisk Analytics in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $60,000. 90.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on VRSK. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $295.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, May 12th. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $320.00 to $335.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Bank of America began 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $302.40.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Samuel G. Liss sold 11,656 shares of the business's 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 completion of the sale, the director directly owned 67,244 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,051,406.64. The trade was a 14.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 5,419 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $300.86, for a total transaction of $1,630,360.34. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 55,913 shares of the company's stock, valued at $16,821,985.18. The trade was a 8.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 28,825 shares of company stock valued at $8,945,180 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.46% of the company's stock.

Verisk Analytics Stock Up 1.5%

VRSK stock traded up $4.55 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $305.06. The company's stock had a trading volume of 163,883 shares, compared to its average volume of 778,759. The company has a quick ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 26.13. The company has a market capitalization of $42.67 billion, a PE ratio of 44.69, 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. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $309.29 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $295.56.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 33.13% and a return on equity of 396.08%. The business had revenue of $753.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $750.31 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.63 earnings per share. Verisk Analytics's revenue for the quarter was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th were paid a $0.45 dividend. 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 26.35%.

Verisk Analytics Company 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.