Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Boosts Position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) by 0.4% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 334,072 shares of the business services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 1,422 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. owned approximately 0.24% of Verisk Analytics worth $99,427,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 225.2% in the 1st quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 14,919 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $4,440,000 after buying an additional 10,331 shares during the period. Simon Quick Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Verisk Analytics during the first quarter worth about $237,000. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 7.7% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 747,337 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $205,839,000 after purchasing an additional 53,502 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Spire Wealth Management lifted its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 71.2% during the first quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 2,302 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $685,000 after purchasing an additional 957 shares during the last quarter. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $295.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, May 12th. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $320.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Bank of America started 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 on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $302.40.

Insider Activity at Verisk Analytics

In other Verisk Analytics news, CAO David J. Grover sold 5,705 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 12,937 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,980,456.16. This represents a 30.60% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 300 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $295.38, for a total value of $88,614.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer 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. Insiders have sold 24,259 shares of company stock worth $7,553,769 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.46% of the company's stock.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

NASDAQ:VRSK traded up $2.75 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $303.96. 963,566 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 773,757. 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 stock's fifty day moving average price is $307.57 and its 200-day moving average price is $294.07. The firm has a market cap of $42.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.88 and a beta of 0.86. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a one year low of $257.59 and a one year high of $322.92.

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

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

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

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.