Banque Cantonale Vaudoise Invests $1.55 Million in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Key Points

• Banque Cantonale Vaudoise acquired 5,206 shares of Verisk Analytics, valued at approximately $1,549,000, during the first quarter of the year.
• Verisk Analytics reported a $1.88 EPS for the last quarter, exceeding analysts' expectations, and its revenue increased by 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year.
• The company's board declared a quarterly dividend of $0.45 per share, representing a 0.65% yield and a total of $1.80 when annualized.

Banque Cantonale Vaudoise acquired a new stake in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 5,206 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,549,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of VRSK. Federated Hermes Inc. grew its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 15.4% in the 1st quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 168,304 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $50,091,000 after buying an additional 22,410 shares during the last quarter. N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics in the 1st quarter valued at $86,000. Kirtland Hills Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. Kirtland Hills Capital Management LLC now owns 3,993 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,170,000 after buying an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 420.0% in the 1st quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 416 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $124,000 after buying an additional 336 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fiera Capital Corp grew its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 12.0% in the 1st quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 43,891 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $13,063,000 after buying an additional 4,710 shares during the last quarter. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ VRSK traded down $6.82 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $271.89. The company had a trading volume of 1,544,019 shares, compared to its average volume of 983,088. The company has a quick ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.34. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a twelve month low of $259.22 and a twelve month high of $322.92. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $306.24 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $297.26. The firm has a market capitalization of $37.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.55 and a beta of 0.83.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The business services provider reported $1.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.77 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $772.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $767.91 million. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 30.67% and a return on equity of 460.89%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.74 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate 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, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 15th will be given a dividend of $0.45 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 15th. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. Verisk Analytics's payout ratio is presently 27.73%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have issued reports on VRSK shares. Bank of America started coverage on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. They set an "underperform" rating and a $280.00 price objective on the stock. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $320.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $317.00 to $319.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $320.00 to $300.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $302.30.

Insider Activity at Verisk Analytics

In other Verisk Analytics news, CAO David J. Grover sold 5,705 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.68, for a total transaction of $1,755,314.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 12,937 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,980,456.16. The trade was a 30.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 300 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $303.88, for a total transaction of $91,164.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 15,765 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,790,668.20. The trade was a 1.87% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 28,825 shares of company stock valued at $8,947,730 in the last quarter. 0.46% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.