MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. Sells 1,065 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. trimmed its position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) by 1.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 100,928 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 1,065 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. owned about 0.07% of Verisk Analytics worth $27,799,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Manchester Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 468.8% during the fourth quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 91 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares during the period. Roxbury Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. Finally, Kestra Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on VRSK shares. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note 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 target price for the company. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Verisk Analytics from $320.00 to $335.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. UBS Group raised their price target on Verisk Analytics from $295.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, May 12th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $297.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $302.40.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO David J. Grover sold 5,705 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $307.68, for a total transaction of $1,755,314.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 12,937 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,980,456.16. This represents a 30.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 300 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $295.38, for a total value of $88,614.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 16,665 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $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. Insiders have sold a total of 8,363 shares of company stock worth $2,529,187 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.46% of the company's stock.

Verisk Analytics Trading Up 0.7%

Shares of Verisk Analytics stock traded up $2.21 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $309.57. The company's stock had a trading volume of 749,819 shares, compared to its average volume of 769,805. The company has a market capitalization of $43.30 billion, a PE ratio of 48.29, 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. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $293.14 and a 200 day moving average of $288.15. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 12 month low of $245.01 and a 12 month high of $312.82.

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

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be given 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 dividend payout ratio is 26.35%.

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

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.