GAM Holding AG Acquires 2,263 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

GAM Holding AG lifted its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) by 13.7% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 18,832 shares of the business services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 2,263 shares during the quarter. GAM Holding AG's holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $5,605,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake in Verisk Analytics by 25.6% in the first quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 805 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $240,000 after acquiring an additional 164 shares during the last quarter. HCR Wealth Advisors bought a new position in Verisk Analytics in the first quarter valued at approximately $221,000. State of Alaska Department of Revenue increased its stake in Verisk Analytics by 2.7% in the first quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 16,541 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $4,922,000 after acquiring an additional 440 shares during the last quarter. Wolf Group Capital Advisors bought a new position in Verisk Analytics in the first quarter valued at approximately $275,000. Finally, Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in Verisk Analytics by 1.9% in the first quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC now owns 5,475 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,629,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. 90.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on VRSK. UBS Group lifted their price objective 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. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $320.00 to $335.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Bank of America began coverage on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. They issued an "underperform" rating and a $280.00 price objective on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective 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. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $297.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $302.40.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

Shares of Verisk Analytics stock opened at $306.02 on Friday. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $257.59 and a fifty-two week high of $322.92. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $42.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.81, a P/E/G ratio of 3.80 and a beta of 0.87. The company's 50 day moving average price is $305.04 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $292.91.

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 for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.68 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $753.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $750.31 million. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 33.13% and a return on equity of 396.08%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.63 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast 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 will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.59%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. Verisk Analytics's payout ratio is presently 26.35%.

Verisk Analytics declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 26th that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the business services provider to purchase up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Verisk Analytics news, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $285.86, for a total transaction of $337,028.94. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 13,786 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,940,865.96. The trade was a 7.88% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 300 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $295.38, for a total value of $88,614.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 16,665 shares in the company, valued at $4,922,507.70. The trade was a 1.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 24,259 shares of company stock valued at $7,553,769. 0.46% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding VRSK? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.