Flossbach Von Storch SE Cuts Stock Holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Flossbach Von Storch SE trimmed its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) by 19.6% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 229,669 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 55,876 shares during the period. Flossbach Von Storch SE owned about 0.16% of Verisk Analytics worth $68,354,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of VRSK. Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its stake in Verisk Analytics by 8.1% in the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 5,210,080 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,435,012,000 after buying an additional 392,270 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its stake in Verisk Analytics by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,691,016 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,292,047,000 after buying an additional 72,045 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Verisk Analytics by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,811,563 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,051,300,000 after buying an additional 19,423 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter worth about $526,676,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in Verisk Analytics by 9.6% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,654,826 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $455,789,000 after buying an additional 144,599 shares in the last quarter. 90.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on VRSK shares. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $320.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. 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 target price for the company. 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 assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Verisk Analytics presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $302.40.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 326 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the insider owned 9,319 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,803,714.34. This trade represents a 3.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 300 shares of the firm's 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 sale, the chief financial officer owned 16,665 shares in the company, valued at $4,922,507.70. This represents a 1.77% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 28,825 shares of company stock valued at $8,945,180 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.46% of the company's stock.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

Shares of VRSK opened at $302.54 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $42.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.82 and a beta of 0.86. 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 firm has a 50 day moving average of $308.84 and a 200 day moving average of $294.93. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a twelve month low of $257.59 and a twelve month high of $322.92.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The business services provider reported $1.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 analysts' expectations of $750.31 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.63 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th were issued a $0.45 dividend. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.59%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 13th. Verisk Analytics's dividend payout ratio is currently 26.35%.

About Verisk Analytics

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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