Federated Hermes Inc. Trims Position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Federated Hermes Inc. decreased its holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 33.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 145,894 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 71,929 shares during the quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. owned about 0.10% of Verisk Analytics worth $40,184,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter valued at about $294,000. Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co lifted its holdings in 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 worth $7,161,000 after buying an additional 11,000 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its holdings in 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 worth $22,193,000 after buying an additional 7,283 shares during the period. Aviva PLC boosted its position in Verisk Analytics by 24.1% during the 4th quarter. Aviva PLC now owns 85,788 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $23,629,000 after acquiring an additional 16,635 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter worth approximately $11,652,000. Institutional investors own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verisk Analytics

In related news, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $295.36, for a total transaction of $348,229.44. Following the transaction, the director now owns 13,786 shares in the company, valued at $4,071,832.96. This represents a 7.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owns 9,066 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,557,155.96. This trade represents a 18.89 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 4,469 shares of company stock worth $1,291,404. Company insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Verisk Analytics from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price 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. Morgan Stanley increased 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. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $298.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $300.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $299.33.

Verisk Analytics Trading Down 2.4 %

NASDAQ:VRSK opened at $278.09 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $39.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.38, a PEG ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $292.49 and its 200-day moving average price is $282.58. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 52 week low of $217.34 and a 52 week high of $306.68.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last issued 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. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 274.13% and a net margin of 32.65%. The business had revenue of $735.60 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $733.55 million. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a $0.45 dividend. This is a positive change from Verisk Analytics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.65%. Verisk Analytics’s payout ratio is 26.87%.

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.