Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ Buys Shares of 47,144 Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ acquired a new stake in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 47,144 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $12,985,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in VRSK. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $526,676,000. Amundi grew its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 52.4% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 1,252,532 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $351,226,000 after purchasing an additional 430,719 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $110,094,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 31,634.6% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 394,461 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $108,646,000 after purchasing an additional 393,218 shares during the period. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its holdings 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 valued at $1,435,012,000 after purchasing an additional 392,270 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.00% of the company's stock.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

Shares of Verisk Analytics stock traded up $0.06 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $314.38. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,204,511 shares, compared to its average volume of 768,999. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.82. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a one year low of $246.53 and a one year high of $317.81. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $298.35 and its 200 day simple moving average is $290.42. The stock has a market cap of $43.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The business services provider reported $1.73 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.68 by $0.05. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 32.65% and a return on equity of 274.13%. 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 company's revenue for the quarter was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS 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 paid a dividend of $0.45 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.57%. Verisk Analytics's payout ratio is 26.35%.

Verisk Analytics announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, February 26th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the business services provider to repurchase up to 2.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on VRSK shares. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price 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. Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. They issued an "underperform" rating and a $280.00 target price for the company. Robert W. Baird upped their target price 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. Finally, UBS Group upped 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 investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Verisk Analytics has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $302.40.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verisk Analytics

In other news, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $285.86, for a total value of $337,028.94. Following the transaction, the director now owns 13,786 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,940,865.96. The trade was a 7.88% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO David J. Grover sold 5,705 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $307.68, for a total transaction of $1,755,314.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 12,937 shares in the company, valued at $3,980,456.16. This represents a 30.60% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 8,363 shares of company stock valued at $2,529,187. Company insiders own 0.46% of the company's stock.

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.