Blair William & Co. IL Raises Stake in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Blair William & Co. IL grew its holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 0.0% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 407,825 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 177 shares during the period. Blair William & Co. IL’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $109,929,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VRSK. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. lifted its position in Verisk Analytics by 225.5% during the 4th quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 205,110 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $48,993,000 after acquiring an additional 142,088 shares during the period. Pinebridge Investments L.P. lifted its stake in Verisk Analytics by 64.2% in the 4th quarter. Pinebridge Investments L.P. now owns 8,231 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,966,000 after buying an additional 3,219 shares in the last quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. purchased a new stake in Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter worth about $698,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,407,133 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,919,008,000 after buying an additional 170,620 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. grew its stake in Verisk Analytics by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 362,915 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $85,550,000 after acquiring an additional 4,147 shares during the period. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

NASDAQ:VRSK opened at $267.02 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.86, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 0.95. The company has a 50-day moving average of $271.47 and a 200-day moving average of $254.47. The company has a market capitalization of $38.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.82, a PEG ratio of 3.42 and a beta of 0.86. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 52 week low of $215.32 and a 52 week high of $287.13.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The business services provider reported $1.74 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.64 by $0.10. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 252.11% and a net margin of 32.03%. The firm had revenue of $716.80 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $722.45 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.51 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Sunday, September 15th will be given a dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio is 29.10%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $243.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $268.00 to $285.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $255.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $275.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $268.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Verisk Analytics has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $275.23.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $277.38, for a total value of $55,476.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 16,408 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,551,251.04. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In related news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $277.38, for a total transaction of $55,476.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 16,408 shares in the company, valued at $4,551,251.04. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, 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 value of $88,743.72. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 7,470 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,033,483.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Verisk Analytics Company 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.