New York State Common Retirement Fund Has $29 Million Position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

New York State Common Retirement Fund cut its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) by 10.7% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 97,431 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 11,700 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned about 0.07% of Verisk Analytics worth $28,997,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in VRSK. Arizona State Retirement System boosted its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 5.9% in the 1st quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 42,981 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $12,792,000 after buying an additional 2,402 shares in the last quarter. Kathmere Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 24.3% in the 1st quarter. Kathmere Capital Management LLC now owns 2,858 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $851,000 after purchasing an additional 559 shares in the last quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 2.8% in the 1st quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 8,296 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $2,469,000 after purchasing an additional 228 shares in the last quarter. Callahan Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 3.2% in the 1st quarter. Callahan Advisors LLC now owns 17,544 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $5,222,000 after purchasing an additional 541 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Diversify Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Verisk Analytics in the 1st quarter valued at about $452,000. 90.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 326 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $300.86, for a total transaction of $98,080.36. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 9,319 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,803,714.34. This trade represents a 3.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO David J. Grover sold 5,705 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 12,937 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,980,456.16. The trade was a 30.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 28,825 shares of company stock valued at $8,947,730 in the last three months. 0.46% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VRSK has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $295.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, May 12th. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $320.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Bank of America initiated 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 for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $302.40.

Verisk Analytics Stock Down 0.5%

Shares of VRSK stock traded down $1.65 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $300.95. 308,729 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 777,164. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $257.59 and a fifty-two week high of $322.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 26.13, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.27. The company has a market capitalization of $42.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.06, a P/E/G ratio of 3.74 and a beta of 0.86. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $309.31 and its 200 day simple moving average is $296.01.

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

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th were paid a $0.45 dividend. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.60%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 13th. Verisk Analytics's payout ratio is 26.35%.

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.