Insider Selling: Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) Insider Sells 326 Shares of Stock

Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 326 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $300.86, for a total value of $98,080.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 9,319 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,803,714.34. This represents a 3.38% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

Shares of Verisk Analytics stock traded down $2.27 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $305.90. 94,577 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 774,501. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $308.64 and a 200 day moving average price of $294.87. The firm has a market capitalization of $42.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.81, a P/E/G ratio of 3.77 and a beta of 0.86. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a one year low of $257.59 and a one year high of $322.92. 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 (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly 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 business had revenue of $753.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $750.31 million. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 396.08% and a net margin of 33.13%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.63 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th were paid a dividend of $0.45 per share. The ex-dividend date was 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%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on VRSK. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $320.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Bank of America began coverage on Verisk Analytics in a report on Thursday, April 10th. They issued 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 report on Monday, May 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $302.40.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Verisk Analytics

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in VRSK. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC grew its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 29.5% during the 4th quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 1,081 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $298,000 after acquiring an additional 246 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. grew its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 14.6% during the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 7,712 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $2,124,000 after acquiring an additional 982 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 15.2% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,432 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $394,000 after acquiring an additional 189 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $110,094,000. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.