Pacer Advisors Inc. Purchases 6,501 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 23.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 34,149 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 6,501 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $9,406,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Creative Planning lifted its position in Verisk Analytics by 6.8% during the 2nd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 17,003 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,583,000 after acquiring an additional 1,080 shares during the period. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 161.6% during the second quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 5,532 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,491,000 after purchasing an additional 3,417 shares during the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 30.8% in the 2nd quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 4,318 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,164,000 after purchasing an additional 1,017 shares in the last quarter. Regal Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 10.8% in the 2nd quarter. Regal Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,551 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $418,000 after buying an additional 151 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers increased its position in Verisk Analytics by 2.6% during the 2nd quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 55,957 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $15,083,000 after buying an additional 1,442 shares in the last quarter. 90.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Verisk Analytics Trading Up 0.3 %

NASDAQ:VRSK opened at $282.59 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $39.90 billion, a PE ratio of 44.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 0.88. 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 has a 50 day simple moving average of $281.60 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $275.06. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 12 month low of $217.34 and a 12 month high of $296.58.

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

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th were given a dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.55%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 13th. Verisk Analytics’s payout ratio is 24.34%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Lee Shavel sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 53,163 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,923,385.73. The trade was a 1.85 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief financial officer now owns 15,608 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,471,535.92. The trade was a 1.27 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 5,490 shares of company stock valued at $1,541,570 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have commented on the company. Morgan Stanley boosted 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. Evercore ISI reissued an “in-line” rating and set a $279.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. BMO Capital Markets upped 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 note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $285.00 to $301.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $293.11.

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.