Achmea Investment Management B.V. Reduces Position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Achmea Investment Management B.V. decreased its holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 86.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,137 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 25,443 shares during the period. Achmea Investment Management B.V.’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $1,115,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of VRSK. Gilbert & Cook Inc. grew its stake in Verisk Analytics by 8.5% in the 4th quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. now owns 3,416 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $816,000 after buying an additional 267 shares in the last quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC grew its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 9.0% in the fourth quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 2,684 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $641,000 after purchasing an additional 222 shares in the last quarter. Financial Advocates Investment Management raised its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 12.5% during the 4th quarter. Financial Advocates Investment Management now owns 961 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $229,000 after purchasing an additional 107 shares during the period. Independent Advisor Alliance lifted its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 11,823 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,824,000 after purchasing an additional 204 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kentucky Retirement Systems boosted its stake in Verisk Analytics by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems now owns 11,604 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,772,000 after purchasing an additional 114 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on VRSK shares. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Verisk Analytics from $243.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $268.00 target price on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $255.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $250.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 25th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $282.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $276.14.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $277.38, for a total transaction of $55,476.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 16,408 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,551,251.04. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Verisk Analytics news, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 326 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $272.22, for a total transaction of $88,743.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 7,470 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,033,483.40. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $277.38, for a total value of $55,476.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 16,408 shares in the company, valued at $4,551,251.04. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 726 shares of company stock worth $196,682 in the last ninety days. 0.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Verisk Analytics Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ VRSK opened at $268.79 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $38.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.15, a PEG ratio of 3.44 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.86, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.95. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a one year low of $215.32 and a one year high of $287.13. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $271.71 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $253.94.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The business services provider reported $1.74 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.64 by $0.10. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 32.03% and a return on equity of 252.11%. The company had revenue of $716.80 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $722.45 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.51 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Sunday, September 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.58%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio is presently 29.10%.

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.