Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) Shares Sold by GUARDCAP ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd

GUARDCAP ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd cut its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 10.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 873,220 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 100,226 shares during the quarter. Verisk Analytics accounts for 3.9% of GUARDCAP ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd’s portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest holding. GUARDCAP ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $240,511,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Sanctuary Advisors LLC increased its stake in Verisk Analytics by 188.2% in the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 25,637 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $7,454,000 after purchasing an additional 16,742 shares in the last quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $212,000. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd lifted its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 479.1% in the 3rd quarter. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd now owns 16,853 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,516,000 after acquiring an additional 13,943 shares in the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its stake in Verisk Analytics by 14.4% in the 3rd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 70,667 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $18,936,000 after purchasing an additional 8,884 shares during the period. Finally, Royal London Asset Management Ltd. grew its position in Verisk Analytics by 16.9% during the 3rd quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 63,217 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $16,940,000 after purchasing an additional 9,145 shares in the last quarter. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Verisk Analytics Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ VRSK opened at $285.16 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $289.28 and a 200 day simple moving average of $280.76. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 52 week low of $217.34 and a 52 week high of $306.10. The stock has a market cap of $40.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.49, a PEG ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.82.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The business services provider reported $1.61 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $735.60 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $733.55 million. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 32.65% and a return on equity of 274.13%. On average, research analysts predict that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.45 per share. This is a positive change from Verisk Analytics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.87%.

Verisk Analytics announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, February 26th that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the business services provider to purchase up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Verisk Analytics news, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $272.81, for a total transaction of $321,642.99. Following the transaction, the director now owns 13,786 shares in the company, valued at $3,760,958.66. This trade represents a 7.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.06, for a total transaction of $595,428.66. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 9,066 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,557,155.96. The trade was a 18.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 5,648 shares of company stock valued at $1,613,047 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

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.