STF Management LP Cuts Stock Position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

STF Management LP lowered its stake in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 4.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,279 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 101 shares during the period. STF Management LP’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $614,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,407,133 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,919,008,000 after buying an additional 170,620 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter worth approximately $374,530,000. TD Asset Management Inc grew its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 5.5% in the 2nd quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 1,502,614 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $405,030,000 after buying an additional 78,008 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 90.5% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,141,516 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $272,663,000 after buying an additional 542,432 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GUARDCAP ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd grew its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. GUARDCAP ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd now owns 1,137,069 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $268,041,000 after buying an additional 12,231 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Verisk Analytics news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 approximately $4,551,251.04. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $277.38, for a total transaction of $55,476.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 16,408 shares in the company, valued at $4,551,251.04. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 326 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the insider now owns 7,470 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,033,483.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VRSK has been the topic of several recent research reports. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on Verisk Analytics from $278.00 to $263.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on Verisk Analytics from $268.00 to $285.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. UBS Group increased their target price on Verisk Analytics from $255.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Evercore ISI increased their target price on Verisk Analytics from $250.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 25th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $268.00 target price on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $275.23.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

NASDAQ VRSK opened at $269.40 on Tuesday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $271.64 and its 200-day moving average price is $254.30. The stock has a market capitalization of $38.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.26, a PEG ratio of 3.42 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 1-year low of $215.32 and a 1-year high of $287.13.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The business services provider reported $1.74 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.64 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $716.80 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $722.45 million. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 252.11% and a net margin of 32.03%. The company’s revenue was up 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.51 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.56 earnings per share for the current 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 $0.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.58%. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio is currently 29.10%.

About Verisk Analytics

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.