TD Asset Management Inc Purchases 70,571 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Key Points

• TD Asset Management Inc increased its stake in Verisk Analytics, acquiring an additional 70,571 shares, bringing its total to 1,537,613 shares worth approximately $457.6 million.
• Verisk Analytics reported a quarterly earnings per share (EPS) of $1.73, surpassing estimates by $0.05, and recording a 7% increase in revenue year-over-year.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.45 per share, resulting in an annualized dividend yield of 0.60% and a dividend payout ratio of 26.35%.

TD Asset Management Inc boosted its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) by 4.8% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,537,613 shares of the business services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 70,571 shares during the quarter. TD Asset Management Inc owned approximately 1.10% of Verisk Analytics worth $457,624,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 225.2% during 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 in the last quarter. Simon Quick Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Verisk Analytics in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $237,000. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. purchased a new position in Verisk Analytics in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $202,000. Vontobel Holding Ltd. increased its stake in Verisk Analytics by 21.9% in the 1st quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 77,807 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $23,157,000 after purchasing an additional 13,995 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in Verisk Analytics by 7.7% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 747,337 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $205,839,000 after buying an additional 53,502 shares in the last quarter. 90.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verisk Analytics

In related news, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 326 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $300.86, for a total transaction of $98,080.36. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 9,319 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,803,714.34. The trade was a 3.38% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Samuel G. Liss sold 11,656 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $313.06, for a total transaction of $3,649,027.36. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 67,244 shares of the company's stock, valued at $21,051,406.64. This represents a 14.77% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 28,825 shares of company stock worth $8,947,730 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.46% of the company's stock.

Verisk Analytics Trading Down 5.9%

Shares of NASDAQ VRSK traded down $17.38 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $276.68. 1,178,772 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 860,143. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $307.69 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $297.39. The company has a market capitalization of $38.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.50, a P/E/G ratio of 3.74 and a beta of 0.86. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 12 month low of $257.59 and a 12 month high of $322.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 26.13, a current ratio of 1.27 and a quick ratio of 1.27.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The business services provider reported $1.88 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.77 by $0.11. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 396.08% and a net margin of 33.13%. The firm had revenue of $772.60 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $767.91 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.74 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Monday, September 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.65%. Verisk Analytics's payout ratio is 26.35%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VRSK has been the subject of several recent research reports. UBS Group raised their price target on Verisk Analytics from $295.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, May 12th. Bank of America assumed coverage on Verisk Analytics in a report on Thursday, April 10th. They set an "underperform" rating and a $280.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $320.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $302.40.

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.