Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) Shares Sold by Prudential PLC

Prudential PLC decreased its position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 38.6% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 10,786 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 6,769 shares during the period. Prudential PLC’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $2,971,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Benjamin Edwards Inc. grew its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 233.9% during the 3rd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 1,666 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $447,000 after purchasing an additional 1,167 shares in the last quarter. IHT Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Verisk Analytics by 57.9% in the 3rd quarter. IHT Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,399 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $649,000 after buying an additional 880 shares during the last quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 16.9% during the third quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 63,217 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $16,940,000 after acquiring an additional 9,145 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP purchased a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics during the third quarter worth about $79,000. Finally, Quantinno Capital Management LP boosted its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 90.0% in the third quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 12,886 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,453,000 after purchasing an additional 6,105 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target 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. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $298.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Barclays cut shares of Verisk Analytics from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $310.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $299.33.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:VRSK opened at $284.99 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $39.98 billion, a PE ratio of 44.46, a P/E/G ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.88. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $217.34 and a fifty-two week high of $306.68. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $292.64 and a 200 day simple moving average of $282.37. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36.

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

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a $0.45 dividend. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.63%. This is a boost from Verisk Analytics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.87%.

Verisk Analytics declared that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, February 26th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the business services provider to reacquire up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other Verisk Analytics news, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of Verisk Analytics 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 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $272.81, for a total value of $321,642.99. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 13,786 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,760,958.66. The trade was a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 5,648 shares of company stock valued at $1,613,047. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.