Cerity Partners LLC Reduces Position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Cerity Partners LLC decreased its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) by 4.9% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 43,030 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 2,230 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC's holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $12,807,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of VRSK. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter worth $526,676,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 36,332.8% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,204,468 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $358,474,000 after buying an additional 1,201,162 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 8.1% during the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 5,210,080 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,435,012,000 after buying an additional 392,270 shares during the period. Raiffeisen Bank International AG purchased a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $70,005,000. Finally, BLI Banque de Luxembourg Investments purchased a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $68,908,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.00% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. They set an "underperform" rating and a $280.00 price objective on the stock. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $320.00 to $335.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective 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 analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $302.40.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 326 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $300.86, for a total value of $98,080.36. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 9,319 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,803,714.34. This represents a 3.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Samuel G. Liss sold 11,656 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, June 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $313.06, for a total transaction of $3,649,027.36. Following the sale, the director directly owned 67,244 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $21,051,406.64. The trade was a 14.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 28,825 shares of company stock valued at $8,945,180. 0.46% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

NASDAQ:VRSK opened at $300.51 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 26.13. The company has a market cap of $42.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.00, a P/E/G ratio of 3.73 and a beta of 0.86. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $257.59 and a fifty-two week high of $322.92. The firm's 50 day moving average is $309.29 and its two-hundred day moving average is $295.56.

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, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.68 by $0.05. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 33.13% and a return on equity of 396.08%. The company had revenue of $753.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $750.31 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.63 earnings per share. Verisk Analytics's revenue was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th were given a $0.45 dividend. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.60%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 13th. Verisk Analytics's payout ratio is currently 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.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding VRSK? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.