BNP Paribas Financial Markets Acquires 10,707 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) by 4.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 240,482 shares of the business services provider's stock after buying an additional 10,707 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets owned approximately 0.17% of Verisk Analytics worth $66,236,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter valued at $212,000. Norris Perne & French LLP MI raised its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Norris Perne & French LLP MI now owns 61,889 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $17,046,000 after purchasing an additional 1,126 shares during the last quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 68.7% during the fourth quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 105,331 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $29,011,000 after purchasing an additional 42,883 shares during the last quarter. Oak Ridge Investments LLC grew its position in Verisk Analytics by 5.3% in the 4th quarter. Oak Ridge Investments LLC now owns 41,155 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $11,335,000 after purchasing an additional 2,089 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Avanza Fonder AB purchased a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter valued at about $2,957,000. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Verisk Analytics

In related news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 300 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $295.38, for a total value of $88,614.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 16,665 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,922,507.70. This trade represents a 1.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CAO David J. Grover sold 5,705 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.68, for a total value of $1,755,314.40. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 12,937 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,980,456.16. This represents a 30.60 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 8,363 shares of company stock worth $2,529,187 in the last three months. 0.46% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VRSK has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Bank of America started coverage on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Thursday, April 10th. They issued an "underperform" rating and a $280.00 price target on the stock. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $297.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Barclays lowered Verisk Analytics from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and set a $310.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Friday, January 10th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Verisk Analytics from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Verisk Analytics from $320.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Verisk Analytics presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $298.90.

Verisk Analytics Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of Verisk Analytics stock traded up $1.65 during trading on Friday, reaching $309.50. The company's stock had a trading volume of 707,168 shares, compared to its average volume of 764,149. The company has a market cap of $43.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.28, a PEG ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89. The firm's 50-day moving average is $292.29 and its two-hundred day moving average is $286.68. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 52-week low of $244.99 and a 52-week high of $312.82. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The business services provider reported $1.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.68 by $0.05. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 274.13% and a net margin of 32.65%. The firm had revenue of $753.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $750.31 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.63 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Verisk Analytics declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Wednesday, February 26th that permits the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the business services provider to buy up to 2.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often a sign that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th will be paid a $0.45 dividend. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. Verisk Analytics's payout ratio is 26.35%.

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.