Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) Shares Acquired by Empowered Funds LLC

Empowered Funds LLC grew its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 7.1% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 2,258 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 150 shares during the quarter. Empowered Funds LLC’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $605,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. boosted its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 60.4% in the second quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 541,426 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $145,941,000 after buying an additional 203,951 shares during the period. Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in Verisk Analytics during the 1st quarter worth about $28,739,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Verisk Analytics by 187.1% during the 2nd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 171,835 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $46,305,000 after acquiring an additional 111,992 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc increased its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 7.4% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 1,618,266 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $436,204,000 after purchasing an additional 111,364 shares during the period. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 33.7% during the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 373,800 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $100,758,000 after purchasing an additional 94,300 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Verisk Analytics Trading Up 1.1 %

NASDAQ:VRSK opened at $290.73 on Friday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $272.66 and its 200-day simple moving average is $268.42. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $217.34 and a fifty-two week high of $291.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.82. The stock has a market capitalization of $41.05 billion, a PE ratio of 45.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.60 and a beta of 0.86.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $1.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $725.30 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $722.19 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.52 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity at Verisk Analytics

In other news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $271.33, for a total transaction of $54,266.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 15,808 shares in the company, valued at $4,289,184.64. The trade was a 1.25 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Lee Shavel sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.71, for a total value of $280,710.00. Following the transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 2,400 shares of company stock valued at $678,764. Insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VRSK has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised Verisk Analytics to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Morgan Stanley lifted 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 note on Wednesday, July 31st. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Verisk Analytics from $285.00 to $301.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $282.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on Verisk Analytics from $268.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Six 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Verisk Analytics presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $285.80.

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.