Perpetual Ltd Cuts Stake in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Perpetual Ltd lowered its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) by 4.9% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 20,275 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 1,052 shares during the quarter. Perpetual Ltd's holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $6,034,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VRSK. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter valued at about $526,676,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in Verisk Analytics by 36,332.8% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,204,468 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $358,474,000 after purchasing an additional 1,201,162 shares in the last quarter. Amundi boosted its position in Verisk Analytics by 52.4% during 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 in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter valued at about $110,094,000. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in Verisk Analytics by 31,634.6% during 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.00% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Verisk Analytics

In related news, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 5,419 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $318.10, for a total value of $1,723,783.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 56,701 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $18,036,588.10. This represents a 8.72% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 13,786 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,940,865.96. This represents a 7.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 24,259 shares of company stock valued at $7,553,769. 0.46% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Robert W. Baird raised 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. Bank of America assumed coverage on Verisk Analytics in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. They set an "underperform" rating and a $280.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $295.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, May 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $302.40.

Verisk Analytics Trading Up 1.2%

Shares of VRSK stock opened at $308.66 on Friday. 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 company has a market cap of $43.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.19, a PEG ratio of 3.78 and a beta of 0.87. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $306.40 and a 200-day simple moving average of $293.58. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 1-year low of $257.59 and a 1-year high of $322.92.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The business services provider reported $1.73 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.68 by $0.05. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 396.08% and a net margin of 33.13%. The firm had revenue of $753.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $750.31 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.63 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

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

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.

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