Cerity Partners LLC Sells 1,973 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Cerity Partners LLC reduced its position in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 4.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 45,260 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 1,973 shares during the quarter. Cerity Partners LLC’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $12,335,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FMR LLC raised its position in Verisk Analytics by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,691,016 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,292,047,000 after acquiring an additional 72,045 shares in the last quarter. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter valued at about $294,000. Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co grew its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 73.3% in the fourth quarter. Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co now owns 26,000 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $7,161,000 after acquiring an additional 11,000 shares in the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 9.9% in the fourth quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 80,568 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $22,193,000 after acquiring an additional 7,283 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Aviva PLC grew its stake in Verisk Analytics by 24.1% during the fourth quarter. Aviva PLC now owns 85,788 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $23,629,000 after buying an additional 16,635 shares in the last quarter. 90.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

NASDAQ VRSK opened at $289.34 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $292.35 and a 200 day simple moving average of $282.84. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 12-month low of $217.34 and a 12-month high of $306.68. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36. The company has a market cap of $40.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.14, a PEG ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.88.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 26th. The business services provider reported $1.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $735.60 million for 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%. Sell-side analysts predict that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a dividend of $0.45 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This is an increase from Verisk Analytics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.62%. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio is 26.87%.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VRSK has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. 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. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Barclays cut 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 report on Friday, January 10th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $297.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $298.00 to $320.00 and gave the company 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 company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $299.33.

Insider Transactions at Verisk Analytics

In other news, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $294.95, for a total value of $347,746.05. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 13,786 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,066,180.70. This represents a 7.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 9,066 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 5,648 shares of company stock valued at $1,628,433. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.