Bank of Nova Scotia Lowers Position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Key Points

• Bank of Nova Scotia significantly reduced its stake in Verisk Analytics by 90.2% in Q1, selling 151,112 shares and retaining 16,453 shares valued at approximately $4.9 million.
• Verisk Analytics reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings with $1.88 EPS, surpassing the consensus estimate of $1.77, and achieved revenues of $772.6 million, up 7.8% year-over-year.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.45, yielding 0.7%, with an ex-dividend date set for September 15th.

Bank of Nova Scotia trimmed its position in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) by 90.2% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 16,453 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 151,112 shares during the period. Bank of Nova Scotia's holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $4,897,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of VRSK. Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 9.9% during the fourth quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 80,568 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $22,193,000 after purchasing an additional 7,283 shares in the last quarter. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd purchased a new position in Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $294,000. Bank of Montreal Can increased its position in Verisk Analytics by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 214,272 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $59,017,000 after purchasing an additional 8,592 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in Verisk Analytics by 9.6% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,654,826 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $455,789,000 after purchasing an additional 144,599 shares in the last quarter. Finally, APG Asset Management N.V. grew its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 92.8% in the 4th quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. now owns 172,635 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $45,919,000 after buying an additional 83,079 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.00% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently weighed in on VRSK shares. Bank of America initiated coverage on Verisk Analytics in a report on Thursday, April 10th. They set an "underperform" rating and a $280.00 price target on the stock. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $320.00 to $335.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Verisk Analytics from $317.00 to $319.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. UBS Group reduced their target price on Verisk Analytics from $320.00 to $300.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Raymond James Financial restated an "outperform" rating and set a $315.00 price objective (down from $325.00) on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Monday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $305.60.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 300 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $303.88, for a total transaction of $91,164.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 15,765 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,790,668.20. This represents a 1.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO David J. Grover sold 5,705 shares of the business'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 transaction of $1,755,314.40. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 12,937 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,980,456.16. This trade represents a 30.60% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 28,825 shares of company stock worth $8,947,730 over the last 90 days. 0.46% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ VRSK traded down $0.46 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $264.52. The stock had a trading volume of 1,038,829 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,117,912. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.34, a quick ratio of 1.53 and a current ratio of 1.53. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a twelve month low of $260.17 and a twelve month high of $322.92. The company has a 50 day moving average of $302.44 and a two-hundred day moving average of $297.02. The firm has a market cap of $36.96 billion, a PE ratio of 40.76, a PEG ratio of 3.75 and a beta of 0.83.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The business services provider reported $1.88 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.77 by $0.11. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 30.67% and a return on equity of 460.89%. The firm had revenue of $772.60 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $767.91 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.74 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

The company 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 $0.45 dividend. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 15th. Verisk Analytics's payout ratio is currently 27.73%.

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.