DRW Securities LLC Takes Position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

DRW Securities LLC bought a new position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 1,407 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $377,000.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Verisk Analytics during the second quarter worth approximately $31,000. Chilton Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the 3rd quarter valued at $34,000. Rothschild Investment LLC purchased a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the 2nd quarter worth $41,000. Finally, Kings Path Partners LLC acquired a new position in Verisk Analytics during the second quarter worth $46,000. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on VRSK shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target 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. Wells Fargo & Company raised Verisk Analytics to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Verisk Analytics from $263.00 to $276.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $285.00 to $301.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $275.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Verisk Analytics currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $285.80.

Insider Transactions at Verisk Analytics

In related news, CEO Lee Shavel sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $286.49, for a total transaction of $286,490.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 54,163 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,517,157.87. This trade represents a 1.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $286.49, for a total transaction of $57,298.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 15,608 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,471,535.92. This trade represents a 1.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 2,400 shares of company stock valued at $678,764 in the last quarter. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

Shares of VRSK stock opened at $294.75 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $273.66 and its 200 day moving average price is $269.24. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $41.62 billion, a PE ratio of 45.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.65 and a beta of 0.86. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 52-week low of $217.34 and a 52-week high of $296.10.

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

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a dividend of $0.39 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend 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.