Barclays PLC Sells 337,594 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Barclays PLC lessened its holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 44.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 418,608 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 337,594 shares during the quarter. Barclays PLC owned approximately 0.30% of Verisk Analytics worth $112,169,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Verisk Analytics in the 2nd quarter worth about $31,000. Chilton Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics during the second quarter worth approximately $34,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics during the third quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Rothschild Investment LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the second quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Finally, Kings Path Partners LLC bought a new position in Verisk Analytics in the second quarter worth approximately $46,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Verisk Analytics

In other news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the firm’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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 15,808 shares in the company, valued at $4,289,184.64. This trade represents a 1.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Lee Shavel sold 1,000 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 value of $286,490.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 54,163 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,517,157.87. This trade represents a 1.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 2,400 shares of company stock valued at $678,764 in the last three months. 0.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

Shares of VRSK opened at $286.68 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $278.25 and a two-hundred day moving average of $271.82. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a twelve month low of $217.34 and a twelve month high of $296.58. The company has a market cap of $40.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.60 and a beta of 0.87.

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, topping 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 firm had revenue of $725.30 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $722.19 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.52 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.39 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.54%. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 24.34%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Verisk Analytics Company 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.