Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) Shares Sold by Central Pacific Bank Trust Division

Central Pacific Bank Trust Division lowered its holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 93.2% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 107 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 1,473 shares during the quarter. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $29,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of VRSK. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. increased its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 55,683 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $13,300,000 after acquiring an additional 1,124 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its stake in 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 worth $40,820,000 after purchasing an additional 30,752 shares in the last quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. lifted its stake in Verisk Analytics by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 8,508 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,032,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Advisor Networks LLC boosted its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Cetera Advisor Networks LLC now owns 31,559 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $7,538,000 after buying an additional 595 shares during the period. Finally, 1832 Asset Management L.P. grew its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 626.7% in the fourth quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 16,191 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,867,000 after buying an additional 13,963 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently commented on VRSK shares. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Verisk Analytics from $243.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Evercore ISI reiterated an “in-line” rating and set a $279.00 target price on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Wednesday. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $278.00 to $263.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $268.00 target price on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $282.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $276.69.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $277.38, for a total value of $55,476.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 16,408 shares in the company, valued at $4,551,251.04. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

Verisk Analytics stock traded down $5.00 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $265.67. 761,911 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 816,279. 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 market cap of $37.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.41 and a beta of 0.86. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 12-month low of $215.32 and a 12-month high of $287.13. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $268.40 and its 200 day simple moving average is $256.91.

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

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Sunday, September 15th were paid a $0.39 dividend. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.59%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 13th. Verisk Analytics’s payout ratio is currently 29.10%.

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.