New York Life Investment Management LLC Reduces Stock Holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

New York Life Investment Management LLC lowered its position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 2.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 21,066 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 485 shares during the quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $5,802,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of VRSK. Private Advisor Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 17.5% in the third quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 3,221 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $863,000 after purchasing an additional 479 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 26,695.7% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 31,083 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $8,329,000 after purchasing an additional 30,967 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 18.5% in the third quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 17,103 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,583,000 after purchasing an additional 2,671 shares during the period. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. grew its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 3.0% in the third quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 5,273 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,413,000 after purchasing an additional 153 shares during the period. Finally, Financial Advocates Investment Management grew its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 5.9% in the third quarter. Financial Advocates Investment Management now owns 1,659 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $444,000 after purchasing an additional 92 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VRSK has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $300.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $283.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $298.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Barclays lowered shares of Verisk Analytics from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $310.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $299.33.

Insider Transactions at Verisk Analytics

In related news, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the insider now owns 9,066 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,557,155.96. This trade represents a 18.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $272.81, for a total transaction of $321,642.99. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 13,786 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,760,958.66. This trade represents a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 4,469 shares of company stock valued at $1,264,818. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Verisk Analytics Stock Up 2.3 %

Shares of VRSK opened at $296.91 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $41.93 billion, a PE ratio of 46.32, a P/E/G ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 1 year low of $217.34 and a 1 year high of $300.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.82. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $284.30 and its 200-day simple moving average is $278.27.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last issued 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 business 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%. Analysts forecast that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.61%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This is a boost from Verisk Analytics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio is currently 26.87%.

Verisk Analytics announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock 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 shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

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.