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

Flossbach Von Storch SE lowered its position in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) by 19.6% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 229,669 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 55,876 shares during the quarter. Flossbach Von Storch SE owned about 0.16% of Verisk Analytics worth $68,354,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Louisbourg Investments Inc. purchased a new position in Verisk Analytics in the 1st quarter worth about $25,000. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. raised its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 6,050.0% during the 4th quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 123 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 121 shares during the period. Global Financial Private Client LLC increased its stake in Verisk Analytics by 966.7% in the first quarter. Global Financial Private Client LLC now owns 128 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 116 shares during the period. Finally, Minot DeBlois Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter worth $39,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.00% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Bank of America started coverage on Verisk Analytics in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. They issued an "underperform" rating and a $280.00 target price on the stock. UBS Group lifted their price target on Verisk Analytics from $295.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, May 12th. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $320.00 to $335.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Verisk Analytics presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $302.40.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

Verisk Analytics stock traded down $1.85 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $301.88. The stock had a trading volume of 293,646 shares, compared to its average volume of 778,192. 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 market capitalization of $42.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.20, a PEG ratio of 3.75 and a beta of 0.86. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 1-year low of $257.59 and a 1-year high of $322.92. The stock's fifty day moving average is $308.99 and its two-hundred day moving average is $294.99.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The business services provider reported $1.73 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.68 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $753.00 million for 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%. Verisk Analytics's revenue was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.63 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th were issued a $0.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 13th. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.60%. Verisk Analytics's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.35%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 300 shares of the firm'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 directly owned 16,665 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,922,507.70. This trade represents a 1.77% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 326 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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. The trade was a 3.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 28,825 shares of company stock worth $8,945,180. Corporate insiders own 0.46% of the company's stock.

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.