Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) Shares Sold by Erste Asset Management GmbH

Erste Asset Management GmbH cut its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 6.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,500 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 100 shares during the period. Erste Asset Management GmbH’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $416,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Sanctuary Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 188.2% during the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 25,637 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $7,454,000 after acquiring an additional 16,742 shares during the last quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter valued at $212,000. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in Verisk Analytics by 899.1% in the 3rd quarter. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 11,919 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,913,000 after buying an additional 10,726 shares during the period. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd increased its stake in 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 buying an additional 13,943 shares during the period. Finally, KBC Group NV increased its stake in Verisk Analytics by 15.3% in the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 35,908 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $9,622,000 after buying an additional 4,767 shares during the period. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $283.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $297.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Barclays lowered shares of Verisk Analytics from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $310.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $300.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $299.33.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $295.36, for a total transaction of $348,229.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 13,786 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,071,832.96. This represents a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.06, for a total transaction of $595,428.66. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 9,066 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,557,155.96. This represents a 18.89 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 5,648 shares of company stock valued at $1,613,047 in the last 90 days. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

NASDAQ:VRSK opened at $288.58 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $40.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89. 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’s 50-day moving average is $287.95 and its two-hundred day moving average is $280.20. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 12-month low of $217.34 and a 12-month high of $306.10.

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

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.45 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.62%. This is an increase 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 has initiated a share buyback program on Wednesday, February 26th that allows the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the business services provider to buy up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Verisk Analytics Company 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.