Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) Shares Sold by New York Life Investment Management LLC

New York Life Investment Management LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 2.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 21,066 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 485 shares during the period. New York Life Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $5,802,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Manchester Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Verisk Analytics by 468.8% during the 4th quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 91 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares during the period. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Roxbury Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Finally, Kestra Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $32,000. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $294.95, for a total transaction of $347,746.05. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 13,786 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,066,180.70. This represents a 7.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of the company’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 sale, the insider now directly 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 4,469 shares of company stock worth $1,264,818. Company insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have commented on VRSK. Barclays cut shares of Verisk Analytics from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $310.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $300.00 target price on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price 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 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 research note on Thursday. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $298.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Verisk Analytics presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $299.33.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

NASDAQ:VRSK opened at $296.91 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.82. The company has a fifty day moving average of $284.30 and a two-hundred day moving average of $278.27. The stock has a market capitalization of $41.93 billion, a PE ratio of 46.32, a P/E/G ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $217.34 and a fifty-two week high of $300.50.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 26th. The business services provider reported $1.61 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $735.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $733.55 million. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 32.65% and a return on equity of 274.13%. As a group, 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 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 reacquire up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.45 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This is a boost from Verisk Analytics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.61%. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.