New Century Financial Group LLC Grows Stake in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

New Century Financial Group LLC raised its position in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 22.9% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,644 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 493 shares during the period. New Century Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $713,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics during the second quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Chilton Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Verisk Analytics during the 2nd quarter valued at $34,000. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics in the 1st quarter valued at $28,000. Rothschild Investment LLC bought a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics in the 2nd quarter worth $41,000. Finally, Riverview Trust Co purchased a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics during the 1st quarter worth $40,000. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

Shares of VRSK opened at $267.96 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.86, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 0.95. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $269.15 and a two-hundred day moving average of $256.29. The stock has a market cap of $38.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.99, a P/E/G ratio of 3.36 and a beta of 0.86. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a one year low of $215.32 and a one year high of $287.13.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The business services provider reported $1.74 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.64 by $0.10. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 252.11% and a net margin of 32.03%. The firm had revenue of $716.80 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $722.45 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.51 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.56 EPS for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Sunday, September 15th were issued a $0.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 13th. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.58%. Verisk Analytics’s payout ratio is 29.10%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VRSK has been the topic of several analyst reports. UBS Group lifted their target price on Verisk Analytics from $255.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Verisk Analytics to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $275.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $282.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $268.00 price target on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $275.23.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 326 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $272.22, for a total value of $88,743.72. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 7,470 shares in the company, valued at $2,033,483.40. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other Verisk Analytics news, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 326 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $272.22, for a total transaction of $88,743.72. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 7,470 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,033,483.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $277.38, for a total transaction of $55,476.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 16,408 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,551,251.04. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.