PNC Financial Services Group Inc. Boosts Position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its stake in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 45,153 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 875 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc.’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $12,099,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Advisors Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in Verisk Analytics by 72.4% in the first quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,464 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $581,000 after acquiring an additional 1,035 shares during the last quarter. PEAK6 Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the 1st quarter valued at about $495,000. BOKF NA grew its stake in Verisk Analytics by 2.1% during the 1st quarter. BOKF NA now owns 5,852 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,362,000 after buying an additional 119 shares during the last quarter. Caxton Associates LP increased its position in Verisk Analytics by 147.6% during the first quarter. Caxton Associates LP now owns 12,875 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,035,000 after buying an additional 7,675 shares during the period. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors lifted its stake in Verisk Analytics by 565.2% in the first quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 79,729 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $18,795,000 after buying an additional 67,744 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Verisk Analytics 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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 15,608 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,471,535.92. The trade was a 1.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Lee Shavel sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $286.49, for a total transaction of $286,490.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 54,163 shares in the company, valued at $15,517,157.87. This trade represents a 1.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 2,400 shares of company stock worth $678,764. Company insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

Shares of VRSK stock opened at $290.73 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 12-month low of $217.34 and a 12-month high of $291.42. The company has a market cap of $41.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.53 and a beta of 0.86. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $272.66 and a 200-day simple moving average of $268.27.

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

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a $0.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.54%. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.34%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on VRSK. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $275.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $243.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $282.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on Verisk Analytics from $285.00 to $301.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $268.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $285.80.

Verisk Analytics 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.