Czech National Bank Boosts Holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Czech National Bank grew its position in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 6.7% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 29,013 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,824 shares during the period. Czech National Bank’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $7,774,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in VRSK. First Trust Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 21.9% during the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 170,897 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $40,820,000 after purchasing an additional 30,752 shares during the period. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. increased its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 8,508 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,032,000 after buying an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Advisor Networks LLC raised its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Cetera Advisor Networks LLC now owns 31,559 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $7,538,000 after acquiring an additional 595 shares in the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. boosted its stake in Verisk Analytics by 626.7% during the 4th quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 16,191 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,867,000 after acquiring an additional 13,963 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pinebridge Investments L.P. grew its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 64.2% during the 4th quarter. Pinebridge Investments L.P. now owns 8,231 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,966,000 after acquiring an additional 3,219 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verisk Analytics

In other Verisk Analytics news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction on 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 owns 16,408 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,551,251.04. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on VRSK. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $255.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $268.00 target price on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Thursday, August 1st. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on Verisk Analytics from $278.00 to $263.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $268.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $243.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Verisk Analytics presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $276.69.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

VRSK opened at $265.67 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.86. The business’s 50 day moving average is $268.40 and its 200-day moving average is $257.05. The stock has a market cap of $37.90 billion, a PE ratio of 49.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.41 and a beta of 0.86. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a twelve month low of $215.32 and a twelve month high of $287.13.

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

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Sunday, September 15th were paid a dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 13th. Verisk Analytics’s 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.