Commerce Bank Increases Stake in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Commerce Bank increased its holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 0.6% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 10,141 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 57 shares during the quarter. Commerce Bank’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $2,717,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VRSK. Mizuho Securities USA LLC increased its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 2,380.6% in the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 272,965 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $73,144,000 after acquiring an additional 261,961 shares during the period. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. boosted its position in Verisk Analytics by 60.4% during the second quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 541,426 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $145,941,000 after purchasing an additional 203,951 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB purchased a new position in Verisk Analytics in the first quarter valued at about $28,739,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 187.1% in the second quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 171,835 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $46,305,000 after purchasing an additional 111,992 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc lifted its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 7.4% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 1,618,266 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $436,204,000 after buying an additional 111,364 shares during the last quarter. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VRSK has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $263.00 to $276.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Wells Fargo & Company raised Verisk Analytics to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $243.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on Verisk Analytics from $285.00 to $301.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Evercore ISI reiterated an “in-line” rating and issued a $279.00 price target on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Six equities research 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 company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $285.80.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verisk Analytics

In other news, CEO Lee Shavel sold 1,000 shares of the 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $14,923,385.73. This represents a 1.85 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, 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 value of $57,298.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 15,608 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,471,535.92. This represents a 1.27 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 2,400 shares of company stock worth $678,764. Insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Verisk Analytics Trading Up 1.1 %

Verisk Analytics stock opened at $290.73 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $272.66 and a 200 day moving average price of $268.42. The company has a market capitalization of $41.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.60 and a beta of 0.86. 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 released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $1.67 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $725.30 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $722.19 million. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 32.65% and a return on equity of 274.13%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.52 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio is currently 24.34%.

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.