GAMMA Investing LLC Increases Stock Position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 19.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 3,306 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 545 shares during the quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $911,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC grew its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 29.5% in the third quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC now owns 104,536 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $28,011,000 after acquiring an additional 23,823 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in Verisk Analytics by 6.8% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,231,201 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $331,476,000 after purchasing an additional 78,376 shares in the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new stake in Verisk Analytics during the 3rd quarter valued at about $229,000. Sanctuary Advisors LLC increased its stake in Verisk Analytics by 188.2% during the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 25,637 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $7,454,000 after purchasing an additional 16,742 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Unigestion Holding SA raised its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 77.5% in the third quarter. Unigestion Holding SA now owns 114,351 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $30,641,000 after buying an additional 49,910 shares during the last quarter. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Lee Shavel sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.71, for a total transaction of $280,710.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 53,163 shares in the company, valued at $14,923,385.73. This trade represents a 1.85 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $286.49, for a total transaction of $57,298.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 15,608 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,471,535.92. This represents a 1.27 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 2,400 shares of company stock valued at $678,764 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Evercore ISI reiterated an “in-line” rating and set a $279.00 price target on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Verisk Analytics from $283.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on Verisk Analytics from $285.00 to $301.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $268.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $263.00 to $276.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $289.80.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

VRSK opened at $276.28 on Friday. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 12-month low of $217.34 and a 12-month high of $296.58. The company has a market cap of $39.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.10, a PEG ratio of 3.55 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36. The company’s 50 day moving average is $282.15 and its 200 day moving average is $274.38.

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

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th were paid a $0.39 dividend. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 24.34%.

Verisk Analytics 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.