Artemis Investment Management LLP Decreases Position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Artemis Investment Management LLP cut its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 48.0% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,817 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 1,680 shares during the period. Artemis Investment Management LLP’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $428,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. CVA Family Office LLC purchased a new stake in Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. DSM Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Global Retirement Partners LLC raised its position in Verisk Analytics by 48.5% during the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 150 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares during the period. Finally, Riverview Trust Co purchased a new stake in Verisk Analytics during the first quarter valued at approximately $40,000. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Verisk Analytics Trading Down 0.5 %

NASDAQ:VRSK traded down $1.30 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $269.55. The stock had a trading volume of 1,084,203 shares, compared to its average volume of 861,902. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a one year low of $215.32 and a one year high of $273.70. The company has a market capitalization of $38.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.61, a PEG ratio of 3.36 and a beta of 0.83. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $249.06 and a 200 day moving average of $241.75. The company has a quick ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.94.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 1st. The business services provider reported $1.63 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.52 by $0.11. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 268.19% and a net margin of 28.45%. The firm had revenue of $704.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $699.07 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.29 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.55 EPS for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Stockholders of record on Saturday, June 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.39 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.58%. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio is presently 29.10%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $262.31, for a total transaction of $52,462.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 16,608 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,356,444.48. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 1,554 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $222.93, for a total transaction of $346,433.22. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 51,715 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,528,824.95. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $262.31, for a total value of $52,462.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 16,608 shares in the company, valued at $4,356,444.48. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 3,265 shares of company stock worth $774,953. Insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on VRSK. Evercore ISI increased their price target on Verisk Analytics from $250.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Tuesday. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Verisk Analytics from $238.00 to $241.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $255.08.

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.