Captrust Financial Advisors Acquires 1,247 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Captrust Financial Advisors lifted its holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 86,008 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,247 shares during the quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors owned approximately 0.06% of Verisk Analytics worth $23,047,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of VRSK. Marshall Financial Group LLC increased its stake in Verisk Analytics by 0.8% in the third quarter. Marshall Financial Group LLC now owns 4,932 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,322,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the period. Signaturefd LLC lifted its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 2,586 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $693,000 after buying an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Brookstone Capital Management lifted its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 3,517 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $982,000 after buying an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Verisk Analytics by 19.0% in the 1st quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 263 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $57,000 after acquiring an additional 42 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ascent Group LLC increased its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 1.8% during the second quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 2,465 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $664,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares during the period. 90.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Verisk Analytics Stock Down 0.1 %

NASDAQ:VRSK opened at $294.21 on Friday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $275.42 and its 200-day simple moving average is $270.09. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $41.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.90, a P/E/G ratio of 3.69 and a beta of 0.86.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last announced 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. The company had revenue of $725.30 million during 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 was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.52 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio is currently 24.34%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on VRSK. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Verisk Analytics from $263.00 to $276.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Wells Fargo & Company raised Verisk Analytics to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. Barclays raised their price target on Verisk Analytics from $275.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $285.00 to $301.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $268.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Six 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 company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $285.80.

Insider Activity at Verisk Analytics

In related news, CEO Lee Shavel sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $286.49, for a total value of $286,490.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 54,163 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,517,157.87. This represents a 1.81 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 owns 15,808 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,289,184.64. This trade represents a 1.25 % decrease in their position. 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 ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

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.