National Pension Service Cuts Holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

National Pension Service trimmed its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 2.6% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 204,639 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 5,418 shares during the period. National Pension Service’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $56,364,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI raised its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 2,025 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $543,000 after buying an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Ascent Group LLC increased its stake in Verisk Analytics by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 2,508 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $672,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB increased its stake in Verisk Analytics by 5.0% in the 4th quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 897 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $247,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group increased its stake in Verisk Analytics by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 974 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $264,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bell Bank increased its stake in Verisk Analytics by 4.7% in the 4th quarter. Bell Bank now owns 1,005 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $277,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. 90.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Verisk Analytics

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on VRSK shares. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $283.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. BMO Capital Markets raised 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. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $298.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 target price on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $299.33.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

VRSK stock opened at $290.11 on Friday. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 52-week low of $217.34 and a 52-week high of $300.50. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $283.90 and its 200-day simple moving average is $278.03. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $40.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89.

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

Verisk Analytics declared that its Board of Directors has authorized 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 reacquire up to 2.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.45 per share. This is a boost from Verisk Analytics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.62%. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.34%.

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.