Metis Global Partners LLC Acquires 299 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Metis Global Partners LLC grew its stake in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 4.7% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,643 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 299 shares during the period. Metis Global Partners LLC’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $1,780,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in VRSK. KBC Group NV lifted its position in Verisk Analytics by 15.3% during the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 35,908 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $9,622,000 after purchasing an additional 4,767 shares during the period. Huntington National Bank boosted its stake in Verisk Analytics by 5.2% in the third quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 2,163 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $580,000 after acquiring an additional 107 shares during the last quarter. Schrum Private Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Verisk Analytics during the 3rd quarter worth $329,000. ICICI Prudential Asset Management Co Ltd lifted its stake in Verisk Analytics by 18.6% in the third quarter. ICICI Prudential Asset Management Co Ltd now owns 1,859 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $498,000 after buying an additional 292 shares during the period. Finally, Haverford Trust Co bought a new position in Verisk Analytics during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $230,000. Institutional investors own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $271.33, for a total transaction of $54,266.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 15,808 shares in the company, valued at $4,289,184.64. This trade represents a 1.25 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Verisk Analytics Stock Down 1.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ:VRSK opened at $280.80 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $271.13 and its 200-day moving average is $266.05. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 1 year low of $217.34 and a 1 year high of $291.42. The company has a market capitalization of $39.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.81, a P/E/G ratio of 3.64 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.82.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 company 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 business posted $1.52 EPS. Verisk Analytics’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VRSK has been the topic of several research reports. Evercore ISI reaffirmed an “in-line” rating and issued a $279.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Verisk Analytics from $243.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $268.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. 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, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of 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, three have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Verisk Analytics has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $285.80.

Verisk Analytics Company 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.