Ballentine Partners LLC Buys 96 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Ballentine Partners LLC boosted its stake in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 1.2% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 8,068 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 96 shares during the period. Ballentine Partners LLC’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $2,222,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. grew its position in Verisk Analytics by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,549 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,253,000 after purchasing an additional 93 shares during the period. Gemmer Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter worth approximately $200,000. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 9,074 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,499,000 after acquiring an additional 83 shares during the last quarter. Trueblood Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter worth $218,000. Finally, City Holding Co. boosted its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. City Holding Co. now owns 4,619 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,272,000 after acquiring an additional 125 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verisk Analytics

In other news, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.06, for a total value of $595,428.66. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 9,066 shares in the company, valued at $2,557,155.96. The trade was a 18.89 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $272.81, for a total transaction of $321,642.99. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 13,786 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,760,958.66. This trade represents a 7.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 5,490 shares of company stock worth $1,541,570. Insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Verisk Analytics Stock Up 0.5 %

VRSK opened at $280.06 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.82. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $217.34 and a fifty-two week high of $296.58. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $282.06 and its 200 day moving average is $274.84. The stock has a market cap of $39.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 0.88.

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

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th were issued a $0.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.56%. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio is currently 24.34%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target 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. Barclays cut shares of Verisk Analytics from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $310.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $285.00 to $301.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $283.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Evercore ISI restated an “in-line” rating and set a $279.00 target price on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $293.11.

Verisk Analytics 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.