Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. Sells 854 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. lowered its position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) by 29.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,041 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 854 shares during the quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD.'s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $608,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Louisbourg Investments Inc. bought a new position in Verisk Analytics in the 1st quarter valued at $25,000. Global Financial Private Client LLC increased its stake in shares of 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 stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter valued at $39,000. Wayfinding Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the 1st quarter valued at $48,000. Finally, NBC Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the 1st quarter valued at $60,000. Institutional investors own 90.00% of the company's stock.

Verisk Analytics Stock Down 1.8%

Shares of Verisk Analytics stock traded down $5.48 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $300.14. The stock had a trading volume of 845,752 shares, compared to its average volume of 780,251. The company has a market capitalization of $41.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.94, a P/E/G ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 0.86. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $309.51 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $295.75. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 52 week low of $257.59 and a 52 week high of $322.92. The company has a current ratio of 1.27, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 26.13.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The business services provider reported $1.73 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $753.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $750.31 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.63 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VRSK has been the subject of several research reports. Robert W. Baird lifted 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. Bank of America assumed coverage on Verisk Analytics in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. They set an "underperform" rating and a $280.00 price objective for the company. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $295.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, May 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $302.40.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verisk Analytics

In related news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 300 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $303.88, for a total transaction of $91,164.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 15,765 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,790,668.20. This represents a 1.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Samuel G. Liss sold 11,656 shares of the company's 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 sale, the director owned 67,244 shares in the company, valued at $21,051,406.64. The trade was a 14.77% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have 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.