Principal Financial Group Inc. Boosts Holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) by 0.2% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,125,729 shares of the business services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 2,474 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.80% of Verisk Analytics worth $335,040,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of VRSK. Private Trust Co. NA grew its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 20.5% in the fourth quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 353 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $97,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 17.6% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,284 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $354,000 after purchasing an additional 192 shares during the last quarter. Norden Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 13.0% in the fourth quarter. Norden Group LLC now owns 1,177 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $324,000 after purchasing an additional 135 shares during the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 33.8% in the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 11,872 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $3,270,000 after purchasing an additional 2,999 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter worth approximately $30,000. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Verisk Analytics Trading Up 0.9%

VRSK stock traded up $2.75 on Thursday, reaching $303.96. The company's stock had a trading volume of 963,566 shares, compared to its average volume of 775,491. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $307.57 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $294.07. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 12-month low of $257.59 and a 12-month high of $322.92. The firm has a market cap of $42.52 billion, a PE ratio of 44.50, a PEG ratio of 3.73 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.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) last announced 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. The business had revenue of $753.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $750.31 million. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 396.08% and a net margin of 33.13%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.63 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $295.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, May 12th. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on Verisk Analytics from $320.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Bank of America began coverage on Verisk Analytics in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. They issued an "underperform" rating and a $280.00 price target for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Verisk Analytics has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $302.40.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verisk Analytics

In other Verisk Analytics news, CAO David J. Grover sold 5,705 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction 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 owned 12,937 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,980,456.16. This trade represents a 30.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 300 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $295.38, for a total value of $88,614.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 16,665 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,922,507.70. This represents a 1.77% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 24,259 shares of company stock valued at $7,553,769. Company insiders own 0.46% of the company's stock.

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.