Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) Shares Acquired by Czech National Bank

Czech National Bank lifted its holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) by 5.9% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 32,434 shares of the business services provider's stock after buying an additional 1,816 shares during the period. Czech National Bank's holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $9,653,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in VRSK. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 7.7% during the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 747,337 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $205,839,000 after purchasing an additional 53,502 shares during the last quarter. Sycomore Asset Management raised its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 27.4% during the 4th quarter. Sycomore Asset Management now owns 24,085 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $6,382,000 after buying an additional 5,187 shares during the period. Allworth Financial LP lifted its position in Verisk Analytics by 6.9% in the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,619 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $452,000 after buying an additional 104 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Savant Capital LLC boosted its stake in Verisk Analytics by 5.2% during the fourth quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 1,726 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $475,000 after buying an additional 86 shares during the period. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VRSK has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $297.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Bank of America initiated coverage on Verisk Analytics in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. They set an "underperform" rating and a $280.00 target price on the stock. Robert W. Baird raised their price target 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 upped their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $295.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, May 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $302.40.

Verisk Analytics Stock Down 0.2%

NASDAQ:VRSK traded down $0.74 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $320.59. The company's stock had a trading volume of 725,034 shares, compared to its average volume of 760,690. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $299.80 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $291.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.82. The company has a market capitalization of $44.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.87. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 12 month low of $257.59 and a 12 month high of $324.65.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The business services provider reported $1.73 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.68 by $0.05. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 274.13% and a net margin of 32.65%. The firm had revenue of $753.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $750.31 million. During the same period in the previous 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. Equities analysts predict that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The company 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. Verisk Analytics's payout ratio is currently 26.35%.

Verisk Analytics declared that its board has initiated a share buyback program on Wednesday, February 26th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the business services provider to buy up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 300 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $295.38, for a total transaction of $88,614.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 16,665 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,922,507.70. The trade was a 1.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $285.86, for a total transaction of $337,028.94. Following the transaction, the director now owns 13,786 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,940,865.96. This trade represents a 7.88% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 8,363 shares of company stock worth $2,529,187 in the last 90 days. 0.46% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.