Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) Shares Purchased by PNC Financial Services Group Inc.

PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 0.3% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 57,035 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 175 shares during the quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc.’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $16,975,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Louisbourg Investments Inc. acquired a new position in Verisk Analytics during the first quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Global Financial Private Client LLC lifted its position in Verisk Analytics by 966.7% during the first quarter. Global Financial Private Client LLC now owns 128 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 116 shares in the last quarter. Minot DeBlois Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Wayfinding Financial LLC acquired a new position in Verisk Analytics during the first quarter valued at approximately $48,000. Finally, GW&K Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Verisk Analytics by 186.7% during the first quarter. GW&K Investment Management LLC now owns 172 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $51,000 after buying an additional 112 shares in the last quarter. 90.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VRSK has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $320.00 to $335.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $317.00 to $319.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $320.00 to $300.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Raymond James Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $315.00 price objective (down previously from $325.00) on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Monday. Finally, Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $280.00 price objective on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $305.60.

Verisk Analytics Stock Down 1.4%

Shares of NASDAQ:VRSK opened at $268.00 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.53, a quick ratio of 1.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.34. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $304.49 and a 200 day simple moving average of $297.47. The firm has a market cap of $37.44 billion, a PE ratio of 41.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.84 and a beta of 0.83. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 12-month low of $259.22 and a 12-month high of $322.92.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The business services provider reported $1.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 business’s revenue was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.74 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 15th will be issued a $0.45 dividend. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 15th. Verisk Analytics’s payout ratio is currently 27.73%.

Insider Transactions at Verisk Analytics

In other Verisk Analytics news, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 326 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $300.86, for a total value of $98,080.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 9,319 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,803,714.34. The trade was a 3.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 5,419 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $300.86, for a total transaction of $1,630,360.34. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 55,913 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,821,985.18. This represents a 8.84% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 28,825 shares of company stock valued at $8,947,730 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.46% of the company’s stock.

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.