Norris Perne & French LLP MI Buys 1,126 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Norris Perne & French LLP MI lifted its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 1.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 61,889 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,126 shares during the quarter. Norris Perne & French LLP MI’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $17,046,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $34,000. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Verisk Analytics in the 3rd quarter valued at $50,000. Crews Bank & Trust bought a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter worth $55,000. Finally, Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 101.5% in the third quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC now owns 276 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $74,000 after buying an additional 139 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

Verisk Analytics stock opened at $288.08 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $281.57 and its 200 day moving average is $275.11. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a twelve month low of $217.34 and a twelve month high of $296.58. The company has a market capitalization of $40.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.94, a PEG ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.88.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $1.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $725.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $722.19 million. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 274.13% and a net margin of 32.65%. Verisk Analytics’s quarterly revenue was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.52 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th were issued a dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. Verisk Analytics’s payout ratio is 24.34%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VRSK has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Robert W. Baird upped 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. Barclays cut shares of Verisk Analytics from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $310.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Friday, January 10th. BMO Capital Markets increased 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. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $300.00 price target on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $283.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $293.11.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.06, for a total transaction of $595,428.66. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 9,066 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,557,155.96. This represents a 18.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Lee Shavel sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $286.49, for a total value of $286,490.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 54,163 shares in the company, 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 5,490 shares of company stock worth $1,541,570 in the last three months. 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.