Parallel Advisors LLC Acquires 148 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Parallel Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 7.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,076 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 148 shares during the period. Parallel Advisors LLC’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $560,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. increased its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 225.5% during the 4th quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 205,110 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $48,993,000 after acquiring an additional 142,088 shares during the period. Pinebridge Investments L.P. increased its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 64.2% during the 4th quarter. Pinebridge Investments L.P. now owns 8,231 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,966,000 after acquiring an additional 3,219 shares during the period. Nomura Holdings Inc. bought a new stake in Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter worth approximately $698,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,407,133 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,919,008,000 after acquiring an additional 170,620 shares during the period. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. increased its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 362,915 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $85,550,000 after acquiring an additional 4,147 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

Shares of Verisk Analytics stock opened at $267.02 on Wednesday. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 52-week low of $215.32 and a 52-week high of $287.13. The stock has a market capitalization of $38.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.42 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a fifty day moving average of $271.47 and a 200-day moving average of $254.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.86, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 0.95.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The business services provider reported $1.74 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.64 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $716.80 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $722.45 million. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 32.03% and a return on equity of 252.11%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.51 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.56 EPS for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Sunday, September 15th will be given a dividend of $0.39 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.58%. Verisk Analytics’s payout ratio is currently 29.10%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verisk Analytics

In other Verisk Analytics news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $277.38, for a total transaction of $55,476.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 16,408 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,551,251.04. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Verisk Analytics news, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 326 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $272.22, for a total value of $88,743.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 7,470 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,033,483.40. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $277.38, for a total transaction of $55,476.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 16,408 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,551,251.04. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $250.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 25th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $268.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $278.00 to $263.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $243.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $275.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $275.23.

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.