Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Lowers Holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund cut its holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) by 55.3% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 17,825 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 22,032 shares during the period. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund's holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $5,305,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in VRSK. Bennett Selby Investments LP raised its stake in Verisk Analytics by 3.1% during the first quarter. Bennett Selby Investments LP now owns 1,208 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $359,000 after purchasing an additional 36 shares in the last quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC grew its position in Verisk Analytics by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC now owns 1,213 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $334,000 after acquiring an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Haverford Trust Co increased its stake in Verisk Analytics by 5.4% during the fourth quarter. Haverford Trust Co now owns 903 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $249,000 after acquiring an additional 46 shares during the last quarter. Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV raised its position in Verisk Analytics by 5.1% during the first quarter. Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV now owns 944 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $281,000 after purchasing an additional 46 shares during the period. Finally, Ausdal Financial Partners Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Ausdal Financial Partners Inc. now owns 2,784 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $767,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Verisk Analytics

In related news, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 5,419 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $318.10, for a total transaction of $1,723,783.90. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 56,701 shares in the company, valued at $18,036,588.10. The trade was a 8.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO David J. Grover sold 5,705 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $307.68, for a total value of $1,755,314.40. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 12,937 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,980,456.16. The trade was a 30.60% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 24,259 shares of company stock valued at $7,553,769 over the last ninety days. 0.46% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

Shares of VRSK stock traded up $2.84 on Monday, hitting $311.50. The company had a trading volume of 1,045,839 shares, compared to its average volume of 771,282. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a twelve month low of $219.10 and a twelve month high of $322.92. 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 market cap of $43.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.83 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $306.40 and a 200-day moving average price of $293.69.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The business services provider reported $1.73 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.68 by $0.05. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 33.13% and a return on equity of 396.08%. The business 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 earned $1.63 EPS. The business's revenue was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be given a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.58%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. Verisk Analytics's payout ratio is presently 26.35%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VRSK has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of 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 assumed coverage on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. They issued an "underperform" rating and a $280.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $320.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. One equities research 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. According to MarketBeat, Verisk Analytics currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $302.40.

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.