GAMMA Investing LLC Acquires 545 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 19.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 3,306 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 545 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $911,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC grew its stake in Verisk Analytics by 29.5% during the third quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC now owns 104,536 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $28,011,000 after acquiring an additional 23,823 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 6.8% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,231,201 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $331,476,000 after purchasing an additional 78,376 shares during the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics during the third quarter valued at about $229,000. Sanctuary Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 188.2% in the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 25,637 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $7,454,000 after purchasing an additional 16,742 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Unigestion Holding SA lifted its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 77.5% in the third quarter. Unigestion Holding SA now owns 114,351 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $30,641,000 after buying an additional 49,910 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Verisk Analytics Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ VRSK opened at $276.28 on Friday. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $217.34 and a fifty-two week high of $296.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.82. The company has a market cap of $39.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.10, a PEG ratio of 3.55 and a beta of 0.87. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $282.15 and its 200-day moving average price is $274.38.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $1.67 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $725.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $722.19 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.52 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th were issued a dividend of $0.39 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.56%. Verisk Analytics’s payout ratio is 24.34%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VRSK has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on Verisk Analytics from $285.00 to $301.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price 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 upped their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $283.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $268.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $275.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $289.80.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verisk Analytics

In other news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $271.33, for a total transaction of $54,266.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 15,808 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,289,184.64. This trade represents a 1.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Lee Shavel sold 1,000 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 $286,490.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 54,163 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,517,157.87. The trade was a 1.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 2,400 shares of company stock valued at $678,764 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

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.