Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) Shares Sold by Graham Capital Management L.P.

Graham Capital Management L.P. trimmed its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) by 69.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,040 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 4,665 shares during the period. Graham Capital Management L.P.'s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $562,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of VRSK. Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its position in Verisk Analytics by 8.1% during 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 acquiring an additional 392,270 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 1.6% during the 4th 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 last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Verisk Analytics by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,811,563 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,051,300,000 after buying an additional 19,423 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter worth about $526,676,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in Verisk Analytics by 9.6% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,654,826 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $455,789,000 after purchasing an additional 144,599 shares during the last quarter. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $285.86, for a total transaction of $337,028.94. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 13,786 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,940,865.96. This trade represents a 7.88% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO David J. Grover sold 5,705 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.68, for a total value of $1,755,314.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 12,937 shares in the company, valued at $3,980,456.16. This represents a 30.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 8,363 shares of company stock valued at $2,529,187 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.46% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on VRSK shares. BMO Capital Markets boosted 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. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $295.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Verisk Analytics from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. They set an "underperform" rating and a $280.00 target price for the company. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their price objective 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. One 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. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $302.40.

Verisk Analytics Stock Up 2.0%

Shares of Verisk Analytics stock opened at $307.36 on Friday. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a one year low of $245.01 and a one year high of $312.82. The company has a market cap of $42.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.95, a PEG ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.82. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $292.76 and a two-hundred day moving average of $287.75.

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, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.68 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $753.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $750.31 million. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 32.65% and a return on equity of 274.13%. The business's revenue was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.63 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current year.

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

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 paid a $0.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.59%. Verisk Analytics's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.