Howard Capital Management Inc. Raises Stake in Verisk Analytics, Inc. $VRSK

Howard Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 2.2% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 3,791 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 83 shares during the period. Howard Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $1,183,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. boosted its position in Verisk Analytics by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 3,175 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $945,000 after buying an additional 35 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 0.4% in the second quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 9,017 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,809,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares during the period. NBT Bank N A NY boosted its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 11.4% in the second quarter. NBT Bank N A NY now owns 341 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $106,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares during the period. Tranquility Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 1.1% in the second quarter. Tranquility Partners LLC now owns 3,231 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,006,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares during the period. Finally, Private Trust Co. NA boosted its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 10.2% in the first quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 389 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $116,000 after purchasing an additional 36 shares during the period. 90.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Verisk Analytics Trading Down 0.7%

Shares of NASDAQ VRSK opened at $232.13 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $32.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.85. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $251.87 and a 200 day moving average price of $282.04. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 1-year low of $228.09 and a 1-year high of $322.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.34, a current ratio of 1.53 and a quick ratio of 1.53.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The business services provider reported $1.88 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.77 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $772.60 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $767.91 million. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 30.67% and a return on equity of 460.89%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.74 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 300 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.23, for a total transaction of $72,669.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 14,865 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,600,748.95. This represents a 1.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Lee Shavel sold 1,100 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.01, for a total transaction of $294,811.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 78,907 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,147,865.07. The trade was a 1.37% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders sold 8,520 shares of company stock worth $2,255,396. 0.46% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on Verisk Analytics in a report on Wednesday, September 3rd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $320.00 target price for the company. Rothschild & Co Redburn reaffirmed a “sell” rating and issued a $220.00 price objective (down from $280.00) on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $292.00 to $262.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Verisk Analytics from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Friday, October 24th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $320.00 to $300.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $299.33.

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.