Principal Financial Group Inc. Has $335.04 Million Position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) by 0.2% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,125,729 shares of the business services provider's stock after buying an additional 2,474 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.80% of Verisk Analytics worth $335,040,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Buffington Mohr McNeal bought a new stake in Verisk Analytics during the first quarter worth approximately $271,000. Teacher Retirement System of Texas boosted its position in Verisk Analytics by 0.9% during the first quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 69,631 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $20,724,000 after purchasing an additional 634 shares during the period. Novem Group boosted its position in Verisk Analytics by 32.8% during the first quarter. Novem Group now owns 3,953 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,177,000 after purchasing an additional 976 shares during the period. Private Trust Co. NA boosted its position in Verisk Analytics by 10.2% during the first quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 389 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $116,000 after purchasing an additional 36 shares during the period. Finally, Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in Verisk Analytics by 21.9% during the first quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 940 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $280,000 after purchasing an additional 169 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 90.00% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have issued reports on VRSK. UBS Group upped their target price on Verisk Analytics from $295.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, May 12th. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on Verisk Analytics from $320.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Bank of America began coverage on Verisk Analytics in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. They set an "underperform" rating and a $280.00 target price for the company. One 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's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Verisk Analytics currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $302.40.

Insider Transactions at Verisk Analytics

In related news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 300 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $295.38, for a total value of $88,614.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 16,665 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,922,507.70. This trade represents a 1.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Samuel G. Liss sold 11,656 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, June 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $313.06, for a total value of $3,649,027.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 67,244 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $21,051,406.64. This trade represents a 14.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.46% of the company's stock.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

Shares of VRSK traded up $2.75 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $303.96. The company's stock had a trading volume of 963,566 shares, compared to its average volume of 776,226. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a one year low of $257.59 and a one year high of $322.92. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $42.52 billion, a PE ratio of 44.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.77 and a beta of 0.86. The stock's 50-day moving average is $308.24 and its two-hundred day moving average is $294.66.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The business services provider reported $1.73 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.68 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $753.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $750.31 million. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 396.08% and a net margin of 33.13%. Verisk Analytics's quarterly revenue was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.63 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th were given a $0.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 13th. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.59%. Verisk Analytics's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 26.35%.

About Verisk Analytics

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.