B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG Buys Shares of 31,226 Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG purchased a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 31,226 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $8,367,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Mizuho Securities USA LLC increased its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 2,380.6% in the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 272,965 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $73,144,000 after acquiring an additional 261,961 shares in the last quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. boosted its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 60.4% in the second quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 541,426 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $145,941,000 after purchasing an additional 203,951 shares during the period. Swedbank AB bought a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics during the 1st quarter valued at $28,739,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 187.1% during the 2nd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 171,835 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $46,305,000 after buying an additional 111,992 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc boosted its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 7.4% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 1,618,266 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $436,204,000 after buying an additional 111,364 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

NASDAQ:VRSK opened at $281.64 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $39.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.94, a PEG ratio of 3.52 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.82. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $271.61 and a 200-day simple moving average of $267.68. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 1 year low of $217.34 and a 1 year high of $291.42.

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

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a $0.39 dividend. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. Verisk Analytics’s payout ratio is currently 24.34%.

Insider Transactions at Verisk Analytics

In other news, CEO Lee Shavel sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.71, for a total value of $280,710.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 53,163 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,923,385.73. This represents a 1.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The shares were 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 $4,471,535.92. The trade was a 1.27 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 2,400 shares of company stock worth $678,764. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $285.00 to $301.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Verisk Analytics to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Evercore ISI reiterated an “in-line” rating and set a $279.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $243.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $275.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. Six 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $285.80.

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.