Corebridge Financial Inc. Trims Stake in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Corebridge Financial Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 6.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 46,092 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 3,261 shares during the quarter. Corebridge Financial Inc.’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $12,695,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC boosted its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC now owns 1,213 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $334,000 after acquiring an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. Ascent Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 2,508 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $672,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB grew its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 5.0% during the fourth quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 897 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $247,000 after buying an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group raised its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 4.8% in the third quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 974 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $264,000 after buying an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bell Bank lifted its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 4.7% during the fourth quarter. Bell Bank now owns 1,005 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $277,000 after buying an additional 45 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

NASDAQ VRSK opened at $287.76 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.82. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 1-year low of $217.34 and a 1-year high of $306.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $40.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.89, a P/E/G ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $289.76 and its 200-day simple moving average is $281.00.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last posted its quarterly 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 net margin of 32.65% and a return on equity of 274.13%. The firm had revenue of $735.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $733.55 million. Equities analysts predict that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current year.

Verisk Analytics announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Wednesday, February 26th that allows the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the business services provider to purchase up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a 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 26.87%.

Insider Activity at Verisk Analytics

In other Verisk Analytics news, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the director now owns 13,786 shares in the company, valued at $3,760,958.66. This represents a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through 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 shares were sold at an average price of $282.06, for a total transaction of $595,428.66. Following the sale, the insider now owns 9,066 shares in the company, valued at $2,557,155.96. This represents a 18.89 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 5,648 shares of company stock worth $1,613,047. Corporate insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VRSK has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Barclays cut shares of Verisk Analytics from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $310.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on Verisk Analytics from $298.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. 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. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $300.00 price target on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Verisk Analytics has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $299.33.

About Verisk Analytics

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.