Element Capital Management LLC Acquires New Position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Element Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 9,335 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,778,000. Verisk Analytics accounts for approximately 0.7% of Element Capital Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 28th biggest position.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Louisbourg Investments Inc. bought a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Global Financial Private Client LLC grew its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 966.7% during the 1st quarter. Global Financial Private Client LLC now owns 128 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 116 shares during the period. Minot DeBlois Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Wayfinding Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $48,000. Finally, GW&K Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 186.7% during the 1st quarter. GW&K Investment Management LLC now owns 172 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $51,000 after acquiring an additional 112 shares during the period. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently issued reports on VRSK shares. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Verisk Analytics from $317.00 to $319.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Raymond James Financial set a $315.00 target price on Verisk Analytics and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on Verisk Analytics from $320.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, UBS Group cut their target price on 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 sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $305.60.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Christopher John Perry acquired 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $259.80 per share, with a total value of $259,800.00. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 1,773 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $460,625.40. This trade represents a 129.37% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 5,419 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $300.86, for a total value of $1,630,360.34. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 55,913 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,821,985.18. The trade was a 8.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 23,120 shares of company stock worth $7,192,416. 0.46% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

Shares of Verisk Analytics stock opened at $267.70 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $296.12 and a 200 day moving average of $296.39. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 12 month low of $259.01 and a 12 month high of $322.92. The firm has a market cap of $37.40 billion, a PE ratio of 41.25, a PEG ratio of 3.74 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a current ratio of 1.53, a quick ratio of 1.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.34.

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

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 15th will be paid a $0.45 dividend. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 15th. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.73%.

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.