Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Raises Stock Position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 384.3% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 27,881 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 22,124 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans’ holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $7,471,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the second quarter worth about $31,000. Chilton Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Verisk Analytics during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $34,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new position in Verisk Analytics in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $34,000. Rothschild Investment LLC acquired a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the second quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Finally, Kings Path Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics during the second quarter valued at approximately $46,000. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verisk Analytics

In related news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $271.33, for a total transaction of $54,266.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 15,808 shares in the company, valued at $4,289,184.64. This represents a 1.25 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Lee Shavel sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $286.49, for a total value 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 2,400 shares of company stock worth $678,764 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VRSK has been the subject of several analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price 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. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Verisk Analytics from $263.00 to $276.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $282.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Barclays raised their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $275.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised Verisk Analytics to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $285.80.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ VRSK opened at $290.73 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36. The company has a market capitalization of $41.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.53 and a beta of 0.86. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a twelve month low of $217.34 and a twelve month high of $291.42. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $272.66 and a 200-day simple moving average of $268.27.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $1.67 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.07. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 32.65% and a return on equity of 274.13%. The firm had revenue of $725.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $722.19 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.52 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a $0.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.54%. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio is currently 24.34%.

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.