Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Trims Holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. reduced its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 13.5% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 70,202 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 10,967 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A.’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $18,811,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of VRSK. Marshall Financial Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 0.8% during the third quarter. Marshall Financial Group LLC now owns 4,932 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,322,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC grew its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 2,586 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $693,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Brookstone Capital Management grew its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 3,517 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $982,000 after buying an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in Verisk Analytics by 19.0% during the 1st quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 263 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $57,000 after buying an additional 42 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. raised its stake in Verisk Analytics by 2.9% during the first quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 1,533 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $361,000 after buying an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. 90.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on VRSK. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on Verisk Analytics from $268.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $268.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $275.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $278.00 to $263.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Verisk Analytics to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Verisk Analytics currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $278.67.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

NASDAQ VRSK opened at $264.65 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.86, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.95. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 1-year low of $215.32 and a 1-year high of $287.13. The stock has a market capitalization of $37.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.38, a PEG ratio of 3.40 and a beta of 0.86. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $268.93 and its 200-day moving average price is $260.65.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The business services provider reported $1.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.64 by $0.10. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 252.11% and a net margin of 32.03%. The business had revenue of $716.80 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $722.45 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.51 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Verisk Analytics

In other Verisk Analytics news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $271.33, for a total value of $54,266.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 15,808 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,289,184.64. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.