Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Purchases 15,089 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Key Points

• Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Verisk Analytics by 1.8%, owning approximately 837,733 shares valued at $249.3 million as of the last quarter.
• The company reported a quarterly earnings per share of $1.88, exceeding analysts' expectations and showing a year-over-year revenue increase of 7.8%.
• Verisk Analytics recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.45 per share, reflecting an annualized yield of 0.7% and a payout ratio of 27.73%.

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) by 1.8% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 837,733 shares of the business services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 15,089 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. owned 0.60% of Verisk Analytics worth $249,326,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 1.5% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,733,589 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $4,980,251,000 after buying an additional 239,483 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 13.7% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,639,719 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $451,628,000 after acquiring an additional 197,413 shares during the period. TD Asset Management Inc increased its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 4.8% during the 1st quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 1,537,613 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $457,624,000 after acquiring an additional 70,571 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in Verisk Analytics by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,421,008 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $391,389,000 after purchasing an additional 4,069 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 23.6% in the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 1,219,674 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $335,935,000 after purchasing an additional 233,011 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.00% of the company's stock.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

Shares of VRSK traded up $0.52 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $265.04. The stock had a trading volume of 830,089 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,132,169. The company has a current ratio of 1.53, a quick ratio of 1.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.34. The company has a market capitalization of $37.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.75 and a beta of 0.83. The company's 50-day moving average is $300.46 and its 200 day moving average is $297.08. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 12-month low of $260.17 and a 12-month high of $322.92.

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

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 15th will be paid a $0.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 15th. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Verisk Analytics's dividend payout ratio is 27.73%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verisk Analytics

In other news, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 5,419 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction dated 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 owned 55,913 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,821,985.18. The trade was a 8.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 300 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $303.88, for a total value of $91,164.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 15,765 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,790,668.20. This represents a 1.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 23,120 shares of company stock worth $7,192,416 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.46% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on VRSK. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $317.00 to $319.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $320.00 to $335.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. UBS Group decreased 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 set a $315.00 price target on Verisk Analytics and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, August 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $305.60.

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.