Arizona State Retirement System Buys 2,402 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Arizona State Retirement System boosted its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) by 5.9% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 42,981 shares of the business services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 2,402 shares during the quarter. Arizona State Retirement System's holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $12,792,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in VRSK. Bennett Selby Investments LP increased its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 3.1% in the 1st quarter. Bennett Selby Investments LP now owns 1,208 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $359,000 after buying an additional 36 shares during the period. Private Trust Co. NA increased its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 10.2% in the 1st quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 389 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $116,000 after buying an additional 36 shares during the period. Haverford Trust Co increased its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 5.4% in the 4th quarter. Haverford Trust Co now owns 903 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $249,000 after buying an additional 46 shares during the period. Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV increased its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 5.1% in the 1st quarter. Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV now owns 944 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $281,000 after buying an additional 46 shares during the period. Finally, Greenleaf Trust increased its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 9,870 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $2,938,000 after buying an additional 47 shares during the period. 90.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 326 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the insider directly owned 9,319 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,803,714.34. This trade represents a 3.38% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Samuel G. Liss sold 11,656 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $313.06, for a total transaction of $3,649,027.36. Following the transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 28,825 shares of company stock worth $8,947,730. Corporate insiders own 0.46% of the company's stock.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

NASDAQ VRSK traded down $0.24 on Thursday, hitting $301.24. 78,874 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 777,640. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $309.42 and a two-hundred day moving average of $295.82. The company has a market cap of $42.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.14, a P/E/G ratio of 3.72 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a current ratio of 1.27, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 26.13. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 1-year low of $257.59 and a 1-year high of $322.92.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results 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. The company had revenue of $753.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $750.31 million. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 33.13% and a return on equity of 396.08%. The company's revenue was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.63 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared 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 of this dividend was Friday, June 13th. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.60%. Verisk Analytics's dividend payout ratio is 26.35%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Thursday, April 10th. They issued an "underperform" rating and a $280.00 price target on the stock. UBS Group upped 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. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped 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. One research 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, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target 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.