Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) Insider Sells $1,630,360.34 in Stock

Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) insider Nicholas Daffan sold 5,419 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $300.86, for a total value of $1,630,360.34. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 55,913 shares in the company, valued at $16,821,985.18. The trade was a 8.84% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link.

Nicholas Daffan also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Wednesday, June 4th, Nicholas Daffan sold 5,419 shares of Verisk Analytics stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $318.10, for a total value of $1,723,783.90.

Verisk Analytics Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of Verisk Analytics stock traded down $0.82 on Thursday, hitting $302.90. 724,673 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 779,890. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $308.99 and its 200-day moving average price is $294.99. 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, Inc. has a 52 week low of $257.59 and a 52 week high of $322.92. The company has a market cap of $42.37 billion, a PE ratio of 44.35, a PEG ratio of 3.75 and a beta of 0.86.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The business services provider reported $1.73 EPS for the quarter, topping 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%. Verisk Analytics's revenue for the quarter was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.63 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current 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 issued a $0.45 dividend. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.59%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 13th. Verisk Analytics's dividend payout ratio is currently 26.35%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Verisk Analytics

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 1.5% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,733,589 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $4,980,251,000 after buying an additional 239,483 shares during the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 0.5% in the first quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 5,235,090 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,558,067,000 after purchasing an additional 25,010 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,691,016 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,292,047,000 after acquiring an additional 72,045 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,811,563 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,051,300,000 after acquiring an additional 19,423 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 36.0% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,251,051 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $669,958,000 after acquiring an additional 596,225 shares in the last quarter. 90.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on VRSK. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Verisk Analytics from $320.00 to $335.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Bank of America started coverage on Verisk Analytics in a report on Thursday, April 10th. They set an "underperform" rating and a $280.00 price target on the stock. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on Verisk Analytics from $295.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, May 12th. 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $302.40.

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.