Freedom Investment Management Inc. Sells 409 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Freedom Investment Management Inc. lowered its position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 11.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,264 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 409 shares during the period. Freedom Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $875,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 899.1% in the 3rd quarter. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 11,919 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,913,000 after purchasing an additional 10,726 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV grew its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 15.3% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 35,908 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $9,622,000 after buying an additional 4,767 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc increased its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 5.7% during the third quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 44,290 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $11,868,000 after acquiring an additional 2,374 shares in the last quarter. Diversified Trust Co bought a new position in Verisk Analytics in the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,325,000. Finally, OFI Invest Asset Management lifted its position in Verisk Analytics by 2,181.7% in the 2nd quarter. OFI Invest Asset Management now owns 2,875 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $723,000 after acquiring an additional 2,749 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

Shares of VRSK stock opened at $294.56 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.82. The firm has a market cap of $41.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.95, a P/E/G ratio of 3.69 and a beta of 0.86. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 52 week low of $217.34 and a 52 week high of $296.58. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $274.83 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $269.59.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $1.67 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $722.19 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.52 EPS. Verisk Analytics’s revenue was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a $0.39 dividend. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 24.34%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on VRSK. Evercore ISI reissued an “in-line” rating and set a $279.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Verisk Analytics from $263.00 to $276.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Verisk Analytics to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $285.00 to $301.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $275.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $285.80.

Insider Activity at Verisk Analytics

In other news, CEO Lee Shavel sold 1,000 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.71, for a total value of $280,710.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 53,163 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,923,385.73. The trade was a 1.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $286.49, for a total value of $57,298.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 15,608 shares in the company, valued at $4,471,535.92. This trade represents a 1.27 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 2,400 shares of company stock worth $678,764. Company insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

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.