Envestnet Asset Management Inc. Decreases Position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lowered its position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) by 5.6% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 470,374 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 28,057 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. owned about 0.34% of Verisk Analytics worth $139,993,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of VRSK. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter valued at $526,676,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in 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 acquiring an additional 1,201,162 shares during the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 392,270 shares during the period. Raiffeisen Bank International AG purchased a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter worth about $70,005,000. Finally, BLI Banque de Luxembourg Investments purchased a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter worth about $68,908,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.00% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Verisk Analytics

In related news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 300 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $295.38, for a total transaction of $88,614.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 16,665 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,922,507.70. This represents a 1.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 5,419 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $318.10, for a total value of $1,723,783.90. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 56,701 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $18,036,588.10. The trade was a 8.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 28,825 shares of company stock valued at $8,945,180 in the last 90 days. 0.46% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on VRSK. Bank of America began coverage on Verisk Analytics in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. They issued an "underperform" rating and a $280.00 price target for the company. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on Verisk Analytics from $320.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on Verisk Analytics from $295.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, May 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $302.40.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ VRSK traded down $2.39 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $300.51. The company's stock had a trading volume of 931,611 shares, compared to its average volume of 780,157. The firm has a market capitalization of $42.04 billion, a PE ratio of 44.00, a P/E/G ratio of 3.76 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 26.13, a current ratio of 1.27 and a quick ratio of 1.27. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $309.29 and a two-hundred day moving average of $295.32. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 52 week low of $257.59 and a 52 week high of $322.92.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. The firm had revenue of $753.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $750.31 million. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 396.08% and a net margin of 33.13%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.63 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th were paid a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.60%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was 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.