Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC Sells 340 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

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

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. CVA Family Office LLC purchased a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. DSM Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter worth about $33,000. Global Retirement Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 48.5% in the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 150 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Riverview Trust Co bought a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the first quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Institutional investors own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 1,554 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $222.93, for a total transaction of $346,433.22. Following the sale, the insider now owns 51,715 shares in the company, valued at $11,528,824.95. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 1,554 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $222.93, for a total transaction of $346,433.22. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 51,715 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,528,824.95. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $262.31, for a total value of $52,462.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 16,608 shares in the company, valued at $4,356,444.48. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 3,265 shares of company stock valued at $774,953. Insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Verisk Analytics Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ VRSK opened at $273.28 on Thursday. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 1 year low of $215.32 and a 1 year high of $273.77. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $252.86 and a 200 day moving average of $242.60. The stock has a market cap of $38.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 51.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.35 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.94, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 1.09.

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

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Shareholders 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 yield of 0.57%. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio is currently 29.10%.

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.