Raymond James Trust N.A. Raises Holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Raymond James Trust N.A. increased its position in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 13.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,953 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 598 shares during the period. Raymond James Trust N.A.’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $1,327,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. KBC Group NV grew its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 15.3% during the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 35,908 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $9,622,000 after acquiring an additional 4,767 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc raised its stake in Verisk Analytics by 5.7% in the third quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 44,290 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $11,868,000 after buying an additional 2,374 shares in the last quarter. Diversified Trust Co purchased a new stake in Verisk Analytics during the second quarter worth $1,325,000. OFI Invest Asset Management lifted its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 2,181.7% during the second quarter. OFI Invest Asset Management now owns 2,875 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $723,000 after buying an additional 2,749 shares during the period. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its position in Verisk Analytics by 384.3% during the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 27,881 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $7,471,000 after acquiring an additional 22,124 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Verisk Analytics

In related news, CEO Lee Shavel sold 1,000 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.71, for a total transaction of $280,710.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 53,163 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,923,385.73. This trade represents a 1.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $286.49, for a total value of $57,298.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 15,608 shares in the company, 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. Insiders sold 2,400 shares of company stock worth $678,764 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on VRSK shares. Evercore ISI reaffirmed an “in-line” rating and set a $279.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. 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. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $275.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $282.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their price target on Verisk Analytics from $285.00 to $301.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $285.80.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

Shares of VRSK opened at $290.73 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $272.66 and a two-hundred day moving average of $268.42. 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 stock has a market cap of $41.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.36, a P/E/G ratio of 3.60 and a beta of 0.86. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a one year low of $217.34 and a one year high of $291.42.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last issued 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 firm had revenue of $725.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $722.19 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.52 earnings per share. Verisk Analytics’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The firm 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 dividend yield of 0.54%. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.34%.

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.