Securian Asset Management Inc. Sells 226 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Securian Asset Management Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 2.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 7,552 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 226 shares during the period. Securian Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $2,080,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 6.5% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,618,971 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,237,700,000 after acquiring an additional 283,653 shares in the last quarter. Amundi increased its position in Verisk Analytics by 52.4% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 1,252,532 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $351,226,000 after purchasing an additional 430,719 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 6.8% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,231,201 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $331,476,000 after purchasing an additional 78,376 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 822,644 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $226,581,000 after purchasing an additional 21,494 shares during the period. Finally, Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich boosted its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 11.6% during the 4th quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 782,819 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $231,532,000 after purchasing an additional 81,604 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VRSK has been the subject of a number of research reports. 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. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $297.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Barclays lowered 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. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $298.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Verisk Analytics presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $299.33.

Verisk Analytics Trading Up 0.5 %

NASDAQ VRSK opened at $289.50 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $287.70 and its 200-day moving average price is $279.98. 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 stock has a market cap of $40.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.16, a P/E/G ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89. 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 quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 26th. The business services provider reported $1.61 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.01. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 32.65% and a return on equity of 274.13%. The business had revenue of $735.60 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $733.55 million. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

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

Verisk Analytics announced that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Wednesday, February 26th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the business services provider to buy up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Verisk Analytics news, 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 owns 9,066 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,557,155.96. This represents a 18.89 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $295.36, for a total transaction of $348,229.44. Following the completion of the sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 5,648 shares of company stock valued at $1,613,047. Corporate insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

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.