Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH Purchases New Shares in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH purchased a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund purchased 123,376 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $33,981,000. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH owned about 0.09% of Verisk Analytics at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in VRSK. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter valued at $526,676,000. Amundi boosted its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 52.4% in the 4th 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 during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter valued at $110,094,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 31,634.6% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 394,461 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $108,646,000 after acquiring an additional 393,218 shares during the period. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 8.1% during the 4th quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 5,210,080 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,435,012,000 after acquiring an additional 392,270 shares during the period. 90.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Verisk Analytics Stock Up 0.0%

Shares of VRSK stock traded up $0.06 on Friday, hitting $314.38. The stock had a trading volume of 1,204,511 shares, compared to its average volume of 760,100. The business has a 50 day moving average of $298.35 and a 200 day moving average of $290.46. The stock has a market cap of $43.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.82. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 12-month low of $251.59 and a 12-month high of $317.81.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results 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 company had revenue of $753.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $750.31 million. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 32.65% and a return on equity of 274.13%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.63 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current year.

Verisk Analytics declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, February 26th that allows the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the business services provider to purchase up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be issued a $0.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.57%. Verisk Analytics's dividend payout ratio is currently 26.35%.

Insider Activity

In other Verisk Analytics news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 300 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $295.38, for a total transaction of $88,614.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 16,665 shares in the company, 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 link. Also, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $295.36, for a total transaction of $348,229.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 13,786 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,071,832.96. This trade represents a 7.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 8,363 shares of company stock worth $2,529,187 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.46% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on VRSK. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $297.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Bank of America began coverage on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. They set an "underperform" rating and a $280.00 target price on the stock. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $295.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, May 12th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their price objective 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $302.40.

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.