Board of the Pension Protection Fund Invests $268,000 in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Board of the Pension Protection Fund acquired a new position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 900 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $268,000.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter valued at $526,676,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 36,332.8% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,204,468 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $358,474,000 after buying an additional 1,201,162 shares during the last quarter. Amundi grew its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 52.4% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 1,252,532 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $351,226,000 after acquiring an additional 430,719 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter valued at about $110,094,000. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 31,634.6% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 394,461 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $108,646,000 after acquiring an additional 393,218 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.00% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VRSK has been the subject of several recent research reports. Bank of America assumed coverage on Verisk Analytics in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. They set an "underperform" rating and a $280.00 price target for the company. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $320.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $295.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, May 12th. One equities 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's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $302.40.

Insider Transactions at Verisk Analytics

In other Verisk Analytics news, Director Samuel G. Liss sold 11,656 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $313.06, for a total value of $3,649,027.36. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 67,244 shares of the company's stock, valued at $21,051,406.64. This represents a 14.77% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 5,419 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $318.10, for a total transaction of $1,723,783.90. Following the sale, the insider now owns 56,701 shares of the company's stock, valued at $18,036,588.10. This trade represents a 8.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 24,259 shares of company stock worth $7,553,769. 0.46% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

NASDAQ:VRSK opened at $308.66 on Friday. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 12-month low of $257.59 and a 12-month high of $322.92. The firm has a market capitalization of $43.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.19, a P/E/G ratio of 3.78 and a beta of 0.87. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $306.40 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $293.58. The company has a quick ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 26.13.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly 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. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 396.08% and a net margin of 33.13%. The business had revenue of $753.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $750.31 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.63 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be given 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 presently 26.35%.

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.

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