Lazard Asset Management LLC Has $39.86 Million Stock Holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Lazard Asset Management LLC cut its holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) by 11.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 144,732 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 19,134 shares during the quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC owned about 0.10% of Verisk Analytics worth $39,863,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 8.1% in the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 5,210,080 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,435,012,000 after purchasing an additional 392,270 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,691,016 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,292,047,000 after purchasing an additional 72,045 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,811,563 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,051,300,000 after purchasing an additional 19,423 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter worth $526,676,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 9.6% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,654,826 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $455,789,000 after purchasing an additional 144,599 shares during the period. 90.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. 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 report on Thursday, May 8th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 27th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $297.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Bank of America started coverage on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Thursday, April 10th. They set an "underperform" rating and a $280.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $295.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $302.40.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the business'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 value of $348,229.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 13,786 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,071,832.96. The trade was a 7.88% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 300 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 of the company's stock, valued at $4,922,507.70. The trade was a 1.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 8,363 shares of company stock valued at $2,529,187. Company insiders own 0.46% of the company's stock.

Verisk Analytics Stock Up 0.7%

VRSK stock traded up $2.21 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $309.57. The company's stock had a trading volume of 749,819 shares, compared to its average volume of 769,841. 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 twelve month low of $245.01 and a twelve month high of $312.82. The company's fifty day moving average price is $292.76 and its 200 day moving average price is $287.75. The stock has a market capitalization of $43.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 48.29, a PEG ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The business services provider reported $1.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.68 by $0.05. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 32.65% and a return on equity of 274.13%. The firm had revenue of $753.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $750.31 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.63 EPS. The company's revenue was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. Verisk Analytics's payout ratio is 26.35%.

Verisk Analytics declared that its board has initiated a share buyback program on Wednesday, February 26th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the business services provider to repurchase up to 2.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

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.