Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) Stock Position Decreased by WASHINGTON TRUST Co

WASHINGTON TRUST Co reduced its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) by 2.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 75,002 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 1,940 shares during the quarter. WASHINGTON TRUST Co owned about 0.05% of Verisk Analytics worth $22,322,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in VRSK. Amalgamated Bank lifted its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 1.0% during the first quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 32,158 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $9,571,000 after buying an additional 332 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV lifted its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 1.8% during the first quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 43,544 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $12,960,000 after acquiring an additional 770 shares in the last quarter. TBH Global Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Verisk Analytics by 16.8% in the 1st quarter. TBH Global Asset Management LLC now owns 8,421 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $2,506,000 after acquiring an additional 1,210 shares in the last quarter. Colonial River Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the first quarter valued at $215,000. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 334,072 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $99,427,000 after acquiring an additional 1,422 shares during the period. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Verisk Analytics Stock Up 0.5%

Shares of NASDAQ VRSK traded up $1.45 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $312.95. 862,205 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 771,524. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $306.94 and a 200 day moving average of $293.89. The company has a quick ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 26.13. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 1 year low of $257.59 and a 1 year high of $322.92. The stock has a market cap of $43.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.82, a P/E/G ratio of 3.86 and a beta of 0.86.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) last posted its 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 company had revenue of $753.00 million during 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 firm's quarterly revenue was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.63 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th were issued a $0.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 13th. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.58%. Verisk Analytics's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 26.35%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on VRSK shares. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $295.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, May 12th. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Verisk Analytics from $320.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. 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 on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Verisk Analytics has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $302.40.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 5,419 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $318.10, for a total transaction of $1,723,783.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 56,701 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $18,036,588.10. This represents a 8.72% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Samuel G. Liss sold 11,656 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $313.06, for a total transaction of $3,649,027.36. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 67,244 shares in the company, valued at $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. In the last three months, insiders sold 24,259 shares of company stock valued at $7,553,769. Insiders own 0.46% of the company's stock.

About Verisk Analytics

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.