Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC Buys 109 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 2.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,070 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 109 shares during the period. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $1,097,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in VRSK. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter worth approximately $374,530,000. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 90.5% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,141,516 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $272,663,000 after acquiring an additional 542,432 shares in the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc increased its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 45.8% in the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 1,342,721 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $320,722,000 after acquiring an additional 422,002 shares during the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado grew its stake in Verisk Analytics by 178.5% in the fourth quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 319,341 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $76,278,000 after purchasing an additional 204,657 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,407,133 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,919,008,000 after purchasing an additional 170,620 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Verisk Analytics from $250.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 25th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $278.00 to $263.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 1st. UBS Group upped their target price on Verisk Analytics from $255.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $282.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $243.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Verisk Analytics has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $267.77.

Insider Activity at Verisk Analytics

In related news, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 1,511 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $248.88, for a total value of $376,057.68. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 52,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,066,200. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Verisk Analytics news, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 326 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $272.22, for a total transaction of $88,743.72. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 7,470 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,033,483.40. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 1,511 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $248.88, for a total value of $376,057.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 52,500 shares in the company, valued at $13,066,200. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 2,237 shares of company stock worth $572,739 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

VRSK traded down $0.63 on Wednesday, reaching $260.31. The stock had a trading volume of 781,999 shares, compared to its average volume of 851,975. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.86. The company has a market capitalization of $37.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.28 and a beta of 0.84. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $215.32 and a fifty-two week high of $287.13. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $269.40 and a 200-day moving average of $249.35.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The business services provider reported $1.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.64 by $0.10. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 32.03% and a return on equity of 252.11%. The business had revenue of $716.80 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $722.45 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.51 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.55 EPS for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Sunday, September 15th will be paid a $0.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.60%. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio is 29.10%.

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.