Swiss National Bank Acquires 900 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Swiss National Bank increased its holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 0.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 423,500 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 900 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank owned 0.30% of Verisk Analytics worth $113,481,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of VRSK. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd boosted its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 292.4% in the 1st quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 5,827 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,374,000 after buying an additional 4,342 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 109.2% in the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 12,729 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,000,000 after purchasing an additional 6,645 shares during the period. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC bought a new position in Verisk Analytics in the 1st quarter valued at $266,000. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund boosted its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 33.7% in the 1st quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 55,000 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $12,965,000 after purchasing an additional 13,862 shares during the period. Finally, Natixis boosted its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 87.0% in the 1st quarter. Natixis now owns 82,910 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $19,544,000 after purchasing an additional 38,574 shares during the period. 90.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VRSK has been the subject of several analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Verisk Analytics to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $263.00 to $276.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $243.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $285.00 to $301.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $275.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Verisk Analytics has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $285.80.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:VRSK opened at $280.36 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $39.59 billion, a PE ratio of 43.74, a PEG ratio of 3.52 and a beta of 0.86. The company’s fifty day moving average is $271.45 and its 200 day moving average is $267.37. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 52 week low of $217.34 and a 52 week high of $291.42. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $1.67 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $725.30 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $722.19 million. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 32.65% and a return on equity of 274.13%. The firm’s revenue was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.52 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a $0.39 dividend. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. Verisk Analytics’s payout ratio is 24.34%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verisk Analytics

In other news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $286.49, for a total transaction of $57,298.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 15,608 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,471,535.92. The trade was a 1.27 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Lee Shavel sold 1,000 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.71, for a total transaction of $280,710.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 53,163 shares in the company, valued at $14,923,385.73. The trade was a 1.85 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 2,400 shares of company stock worth $678,764. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.