Riverbridge Partners LLC Sells 15,562 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Riverbridge Partners LLC trimmed its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 4.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 353,724 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 15,562 shares during the quarter. Verisk Analytics comprises about 1.3% of Riverbridge Partners LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 28th biggest holding. Riverbridge Partners LLC owned approximately 0.25% of Verisk Analytics worth $97,426,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of VRSK. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $34,000. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Verisk Analytics in the third quarter valued at approximately $50,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC raised its position in Verisk Analytics by 101.5% during the third quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC now owns 276 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $74,000 after purchasing an additional 139 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quarry LP bought a new stake in Verisk Analytics during the third quarter worth $79,000. 90.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Verisk Analytics Trading Down 0.3 %

NASDAQ VRSK opened at $279.35 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $39.45 billion, a PE ratio of 43.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 0.88. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $281.69 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $274.91. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 12 month low of $217.34 and a 12 month high of $296.58.

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

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Lee Shavel sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $286.49, for a total transaction of $286,490.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 54,163 shares in the company, valued at $15,517,157.87. The trade was a 1.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $272.81, for a total value of $321,642.99. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 13,786 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,760,958.66. This represents a 7.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 5,490 shares of company stock valued at $1,541,570 over the last ninety days. 0.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on VRSK shares. Evercore ISI reiterated an “in-line” rating and issued a $279.00 price target on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $283.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $285.00 to $301.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $263.00 to $276.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 target price on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Verisk Analytics currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $293.11.

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.