Spire Wealth Management Buys 957 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Spire Wealth Management boosted its position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) by 71.2% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,302 shares of the business services provider's stock after buying an additional 957 shares during the quarter. Spire Wealth Management's holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $685,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Community Financial Services Group LLC grew its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 6.8% in the first quarter. Community Financial Services Group LLC now owns 14,934 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $4,445,000 after purchasing an additional 955 shares in the last quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. lifted its position in Verisk Analytics by 5.7% in the 1st quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 100,997 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $30,059,000 after buying an additional 5,427 shares during the last quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. bought a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the first quarter worth $202,000. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in Verisk Analytics by 1.0% during the first quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 68,472 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $20,379,000 after buying an additional 668 shares during the period. Finally, Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 8.6% during the first quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 6,001 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,786,000 after buying an additional 477 shares during the last quarter. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Verisk Analytics

In related news, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 5,419 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $318.10, for a total value of $1,723,783.90. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 56,701 shares of the company's stock, valued at $18,036,588.10. The trade was a 8.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Samuel G. Liss sold 11,656 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the director now owns 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 24,259 shares of company stock valued at $7,553,769. Insiders own 0.46% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on VRSK shares. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on Verisk Analytics from $320.00 to $335.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. UBS Group lifted their price target on 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 assumed coverage on Verisk Analytics in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. They issued an "underperform" rating and a $280.00 price objective for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $302.40.

Verisk Analytics Trading Down 0.4%

Shares of Verisk Analytics stock traded down $1.32 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $307.35. 80,410 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 767,516. 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, Inc. has a 12 month low of $219.10 and a 12 month high of $322.92. The company has a market cap of $42.99 billion, a PE ratio of 45.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.83 and a beta of 0.87. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $306.40 and a 200-day moving average of $293.69.

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

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be given a $0.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.59%. Verisk Analytics's dividend payout ratio is currently 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.