Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) Shares Sold by Artisan Partners Limited Partnership

Artisan Partners Limited Partnership trimmed its holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 5.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 480,417 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 27,099 shares during the quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $132,321,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 8.1% during the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 232,529 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $64,243,000 after purchasing an additional 17,519 shares in the last quarter. Korea Investment CORP increased its position in Verisk Analytics by 74.1% during the fourth quarter. Korea Investment CORP now owns 80,629 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $22,208,000 after buying an additional 34,309 shares during the period. Ausdal Financial Partners Inc. lifted its stake in Verisk Analytics by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Ausdal Financial Partners Inc. now owns 2,784 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $767,000 after buying an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 9.4% in the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 100,928 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $27,799,000 after acquiring an additional 8,638 shares during the period. Finally, Haverford Trust Co boosted its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 5.4% in the fourth quarter. Haverford Trust Co now owns 903 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $249,000 after acquiring an additional 46 shares during the period. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Verisk Analytics Stock Up 1.7 %

VRSK opened at $296.89 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $41.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.32, a PEG ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $290.49 and its 200 day simple moving average is $281.19. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 52 week low of $217.34 and a 52 week high of $306.10. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last released its quarterly earnings results 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. The company had revenue of $735.60 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $733.55 million. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 32.65% and a return on equity of 274.13%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

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

Verisk Analytics declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, February 26th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the business services provider to buy up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VRSK has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $300.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $297.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $283.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on Verisk Analytics from $298.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Barclays downgraded Verisk Analytics from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $310.00 price target for the company. in a report on Friday, January 10th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $299.33.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verisk Analytics

In other Verisk Analytics news, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.06, for a total value of $595,428.66. Following the completion of the sale, 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $272.81, for a total transaction of $321,642.99. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 13,786 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,760,958.66. This represents a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 5,648 shares of company stock worth $1,613,047. Insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

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.