Bamco Inc. NY Decreases Stake in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Bamco Inc. NY decreased its holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 1,268,534 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 22,301 shares during the quarter. Verisk Analytics comprises about 0.9% of Bamco Inc. NY’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 23rd biggest holding. Bamco Inc. NY’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $339,916,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of VRSK. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd increased its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 479.1% in the third quarter. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd now owns 16,853 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,516,000 after buying an additional 13,943 shares in the last quarter. Erste Asset Management GmbH acquired a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $423,000. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec increased its stake in Verisk Analytics by 121.8% in the 3rd quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 83,428 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $22,355,000 after purchasing an additional 45,812 shares in the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors raised its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 1.5% during the third quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 86,008 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $23,047,000 after purchasing an additional 1,247 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp boosted its position in Verisk Analytics by 6.4% during the third quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp now owns 9,504 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,547,000 after purchasing an additional 575 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on VRSK shares. Barclays raised their price target on Verisk Analytics from $275.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $263.00 to $276.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $268.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Verisk Analytics to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. Finally, Evercore ISI reiterated an “in-line” rating and set a $279.00 target price on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $285.80.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Verisk Analytics news, CEO Lee Shavel sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.71, for a total transaction of $280,710.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 53,163 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,923,385.73. The trade was a 1.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $271.33, for a total value of $54,266.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 15,808 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,289,184.64. This represents a 1.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 2,400 shares of company stock valued at $678,764. Insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Verisk Analytics Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of Verisk Analytics stock opened at $294.21 on Monday. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $217.34 and a fifty-two week high of $296.58. The business’s fifty day moving average is $275.42 and its two-hundred day moving average is $270.24. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36. The firm has a market cap of $41.55 billion, a PE ratio of 45.90, a P/E/G ratio of 3.69 and a beta of 0.86.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $1.67 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $725.30 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $722.19 million. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 274.13% and a net margin of 32.65%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.52 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a $0.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.53%. Verisk Analytics’s payout ratio is 24.34%.

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.