Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) Shares Sold by State of Michigan Retirement System

State of Michigan Retirement System lessened its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 1.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 38,356 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 400 shares during the period. State of Michigan Retirement System’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $10,564,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in VRSK. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 11.0% in the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,766 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $473,000 after purchasing an additional 175 shares during the last quarter. National Pension Service increased its stake in Verisk Analytics by 19.6% during the 3rd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 210,057 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $56,287,000 after purchasing an additional 34,455 shares in the last quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 101.5% in the third quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC now owns 276 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $74,000 after buying an additional 139 shares during the last quarter. Amalgamated Bank lifted its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 1.8% during the third quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 31,305 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $8,388,000 after buying an additional 567 shares during the period. Finally, Callahan Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 21.6% during the third quarter. Callahan Advisors LLC now owns 15,545 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,165,000 after buying an additional 2,765 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $294.95, for a total value of $347,746.05. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 13,786 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,066,180.70. The trade was a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.06, for a total transaction of $595,428.66. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 9,066 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,557,155.96. This represents a 18.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 4,469 shares of company stock valued at $1,264,818. 0.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on VRSK. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on Verisk Analytics from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Barclays cut Verisk Analytics from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $310.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on Verisk Analytics from $298.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $283.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $299.33.

Verisk Analytics Trading Down 0.9 %

Verisk Analytics stock opened at $296.89 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $41.65 billion, a PE ratio of 46.32, a P/E/G ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 12 month low of $217.34 and a 12 month high of $306.10. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $285.58 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $279.03. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The business services provider reported $1.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.01. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 32.65% and a return on equity of 274.13%. The firm had revenue of $735.60 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $733.55 million. Analysts anticipate that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Verisk Analytics announced that its board has approved a stock buyback 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 repurchase up to 2.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.45 dividend. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Verisk Analytics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. Verisk Analytics’s payout ratio is currently 26.87%.

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.