Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich Cuts Holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich cut its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) by 1.7% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 769,855 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 12,964 shares during the period. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich owned approximately 0.55% of Verisk Analytics worth $249,698,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter worth approximately $526,676,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 36,332.8% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,204,468 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $358,474,000 after acquiring an additional 1,201,162 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 8.1% in the 4th quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 5,210,080 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,435,012,000 after acquiring an additional 392,270 shares during the period. Raiffeisen Bank International AG acquired a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter worth approximately $70,005,000. Finally, BLI Banque de Luxembourg Investments acquired a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter worth approximately $68,908,000. 90.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Verisk Analytics Trading Up 0.8%

Shares of Verisk Analytics stock traded up $2.42 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $298.51. 211,671 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 855,404. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 52-week low of $257.59 and a 52-week high of $322.92. The firm has a market capitalization of $41.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.77 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a fifty day moving average of $308.70 and a 200-day moving average of $296.83. The company has a current ratio of 1.27, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 26.13.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The business services provider reported $1.73 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.68 by $0.05. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 396.08% and a net margin of 33.13%. The company had revenue of $753.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $750.31 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.63 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th were 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 of this dividend was Friday, June 13th. Verisk Analytics's dividend payout ratio is presently 26.35%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on VRSK shares. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on Verisk Analytics from $320.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. UBS Group increased their target price on Verisk Analytics from $295.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, May 12th. Finally, Bank of America started coverage on Verisk Analytics in a report on Thursday, April 10th. They set an "underperform" rating and a $280.00 target price on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $302.40.

Insider Activity at Verisk Analytics

In other Verisk Analytics news, Director Samuel G. Liss sold 11,656 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, June 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $313.06, for a total transaction of $3,649,027.36. Following the transaction, the director owned 67,244 shares of the company's stock, valued at $21,051,406.64. This represents a 14.77% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 5,419 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $300.86, for a total value of $1,630,360.34. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 55,913 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,821,985.18. This represents a 8.84% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 28,825 shares of company stock worth $8,947,730. Company insiders own 0.46% of the company's stock.

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.