Ensign Peak Advisors Inc cut its holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) by 3.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 242,174 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 8,196 shares during the quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc owned 0.17% of Verisk Analytics worth $66,702,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of VRSK. Manchester Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 468.8% in the fourth quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 91 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the period. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Roxbury Financial LLC bought a new position in Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter worth approximately $29,000. Finally, SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.
Analyst Ratings Changes
A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $297.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Bank of America began coverage on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. They issued an "underperform" rating and a $280.00 price objective on the stock. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $320.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $295.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $302.40.
View Our Latest Stock Analysis on VRSK
Insider Buying and Selling at Verisk Analytics
In other Verisk Analytics news, CAO David J. Grover sold 5,705 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $307.68, for a total value of $1,755,314.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 12,937 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,980,456.16. This represents a 30.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $295.36, for a total transaction of $348,229.44. Following the transaction, the director now owns 13,786 shares in the company, valued at $4,071,832.96. The trade was a 7.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 8,363 shares of company stock valued at $2,529,187 in the last 90 days. 0.46% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.
Verisk Analytics Stock Performance
Shares of NASDAQ VRSK traded down $2.08 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $301.57. 846,779 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 767,109. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $292.43 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $287.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.82. The firm has a market capitalization of $42.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 52 week low of $245.01 and a 52 week high of $312.82.
Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The business services provider reported $1.73 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.68 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $753.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $750.31 million. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 32.65% and a return on equity of 274.13%. The company's revenue was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.63 EPS. Analysts predict that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current year.
Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend
The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.60%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. Verisk Analytics's payout ratio is currently 26.35%.
Verisk Analytics declared that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, February 26th that allows the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the business services provider to reacquire up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often an indication that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.
About Verisk Analytics
(
Free Report)
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.
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