IFM Investors Pty Ltd Buys 2,805 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

IFM Investors Pty Ltd increased its position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) by 10.0% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 30,740 shares of the business services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 2,805 shares during the quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd's holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $9,149,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Louisbourg Investments Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics during the first quarter worth $25,000. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. lifted 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 worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 121 shares in the last quarter. Global Financial Private Client LLC lifted its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 966.7% during the 1st 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Minot DeBlois Advisors LLC bought a new position in Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter worth about $39,000. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

VRSK traded up $4.11 on Monday, reaching $308.17. The company had a trading volume of 984,887 shares, compared to its average volume of 777,062. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 52-week low of $257.59 and a 52-week high of $322.92. The company has a market cap of $43.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.12, a P/E/G ratio of 3.77 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 26.13, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.27. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $308.24 and a 200 day simple moving average of $294.66.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 33.13% and a return on equity of 396.08%. The firm 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 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th were paid a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 13th. Verisk Analytics's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 26.35%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on VRSK. UBS Group upped 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. Bank of America started coverage on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. They set an "underperform" rating and a $280.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their target price 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $302.40.

Insider Activity

In other Verisk Analytics news, Director Samuel G. Liss sold 11,656 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $313.06, for a total transaction of $3,649,027.36. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 67,244 shares in the company, valued at $21,051,406.64. This trade represents a 14.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 5,419 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $300.86, for a total transaction of $1,630,360.34. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 55,913 shares in the company, valued at $16,821,985.18. This trade represents a 8.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 28,825 shares of company stock valued at $8,945,180. 0.46% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.