Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC Trims Stake in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 2.4% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 13,859 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 340 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $3,267,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of VRSK. SMI Advisory Services LLC purchased a new position in Verisk Analytics in the 1st quarter worth about $3,893,000. Riverview Trust Co bought a new position in Verisk Analytics in the 1st quarter worth about $40,000. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC raised its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 5.2% during the first quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 3,683 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $868,000 after acquiring an additional 183 shares in the last quarter. Global Assets Advisory LLC bought a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics during the first quarter valued at approximately $11,582,000. Finally, Peak Financial Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 22.7% in the first quarter. Peak Financial Advisors LLC now owns 11,666 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,750,000 after purchasing an additional 2,159 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 1,511 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 52,500 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,066,200. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $262.31, for a total value of $52,462.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 16,608 shares in the company, valued at $4,356,444.48. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 1,511 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $248.88, for a total value of $376,057.68. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 52,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,066,200. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 3,265 shares of company stock worth $774,953 over the last 90 days. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Verisk Analytics Trading Up 0.3 %

NASDAQ:VRSK opened at $273.28 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $38.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 51.00, a PEG ratio of 3.35 and a beta of 0.84. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 52 week low of $215.32 and a 52 week high of $273.77. The company has a quick ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.94. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $252.86 and a 200 day moving average of $242.60.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 1st. The business services provider reported $1.63 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.52 by $0.11. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 268.19% and a net margin of 28.45%. The firm had revenue of $704.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $699.07 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.29 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Stockholders of record on Saturday, June 15th were paid a dividend of $0.39 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 14th. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.57%. Verisk Analytics’s payout ratio is 29.10%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on VRSK. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on Verisk Analytics from $250.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 25th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $238.00 to $241.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $255.08.

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.