Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Lowers Holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System cut its holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 7.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,524 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 614 shares during the period. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $2,072,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VRSK. Amundi lifted its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 52.4% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 1,252,532 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $351,226,000 after purchasing an additional 430,719 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter worth approximately $110,094,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 31,634.6% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 394,461 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $108,646,000 after acquiring an additional 393,218 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 6.5% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,618,971 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,237,700,000 after acquiring an additional 283,653 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Empower Advisory Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 29,469.0% during the 4th quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC now owns 233,004 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $64,176,000 after acquiring an additional 232,216 shares in the last quarter. 90.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

Shares of Verisk Analytics stock opened at $287.68 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $288.95 and its two-hundred day moving average is $280.63. The company has a market capitalization of $40.35 billion, a PE ratio of 44.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 52 week low of $217.34 and a 52 week high of $306.10.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. The company had revenue of $735.60 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $733.55 million. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 274.13% and a net margin of 32.65%. As a group, analysts expect that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.45 dividend. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.63%. This is a boost 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 is currently 26.87%.

Verisk Analytics announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase program on Wednesday, February 26th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the business services provider to repurchase up to 2.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Verisk Analytics news, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $272.81, for a total value of $321,642.99. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 13,786 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,760,958.66. This represents a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed 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 value of $595,428.66. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 9,066 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,557,155.96. This represents a 18.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 5,648 shares of company stock worth $1,613,047. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.