Nuveen Asset Management LLC Reduces Stock Position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Nuveen Asset Management LLC lowered its position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) by 10.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,617,635 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 186,100 shares during the quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC owned 1.15% of Verisk Analytics worth $445,545,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter valued at about $526,676,000. Amundi grew its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 52.4% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 1,252,532 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $351,226,000 after purchasing an additional 430,719 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter worth approximately $110,094,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 31,634.6% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 394,461 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $108,646,000 after purchasing an additional 393,218 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 8.1% during the 4th 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 last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.00% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VRSK has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Bank of America assumed coverage on Verisk Analytics in a report on Thursday, April 10th. They set an "underperform" rating and a $280.00 target price on the stock. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $297.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $320.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced 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. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $295.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, May 12th. One investment 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. According to MarketBeat.com, Verisk Analytics currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $302.40.

Verisk Analytics Trading Down 0.8%

Shares of VRSK traded down $2.57 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $311.78. The company had a trading volume of 89,837 shares, compared to its average volume of 767,017. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $245.01 and a fifty-two week high of $314.65. The stock has a market cap of $43.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $293.66 and a 200-day simple moving average of $288.51.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The business services provider reported $1.73 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 return on equity of 274.13% and a net margin of 32.65%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.63 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

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

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Verisk Analytics

In other news, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the director now owns 13,786 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,071,832.96. This trade represents a 7.88% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 300 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 16,665 shares in the company, valued at $4,922,507.70. The trade was a 1.77% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 8,363 shares of company stock valued at $2,529,187 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.46% of the company's stock.

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.