Gulf International Bank UK Ltd Decreases Position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. $VRSK

Key Points

• Gulf International Bank UK Ltd has reduced its stake in Verisk Analytics by 25.3% during the 1st quarter, now holding 8,462 shares valued at approximately $2.5 million.
• Verisk Analytics reported an earnings per share (EPS) of $1.88 for the last quarter, surpassing analyst expectations and reflecting a 7.8% year-over-year revenue increase.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.45 to be paid on September 30th, bringing its annualized dividend yield to 0.7%.

Gulf International Bank UK Ltd trimmed its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) by 25.3% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,462 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 2,869 shares during the quarter. Gulf International Bank UK Ltd's holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $2,518,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of VRSK. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. grew its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 1.1% in the first quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 3,175 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $945,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares during the last quarter. Bennett Selby Investments LP grew its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 3.1% during the first 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 last quarter. Private Trust Co. NA grew its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 10.2% during the first 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 last quarter. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 3.3% during the first quarter. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC now owns 1,177 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $350,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kirtland Hills Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 1.0% during the first quarter. Kirtland Hills Capital Management LLC now owns 3,993 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,170,000 after buying an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. 90.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 300 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $303.88, for a total transaction of $91,164.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 15,765 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,790,668.20. The trade was a 1.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Christopher John Perry bought 1,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 13th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $259.80 per share, with a total value of $259,800.00. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 1,773 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $460,625.40. This represents a 129.37% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 23,120 shares of company stock valued at $7,192,416. Insiders own 0.46% of the company's stock.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

NASDAQ VRSK traded down $2.17 on Monday, reaching $265.69. 1,000,229 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 903,326. The firm has a market cap of $37.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.94, a P/E/G ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 0.83. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $295.08 and a 200-day moving average price of $296.45. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $259.01 and a fifty-two week high of $322.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.34, a quick ratio of 1.53 and a current ratio of 1.53.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The business services provider reported $1.88 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.77 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $772.60 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $767.91 million. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 30.67% and a return on equity of 460.89%. The company's revenue was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.74 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 15th will be given a $0.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 15th. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Verisk Analytics's dividend payout ratio is 27.73%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on VRSK. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $320.00 to $335.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $320.00 to $300.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Raymond James Financial set a $315.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, August 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $317.00 to $319.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $305.60.

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.