Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) Shares Bought by Korea Investment CORP

Korea Investment CORP grew its position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 74.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 80,629 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 34,309 shares during the quarter. Korea Investment CORP owned 0.06% of Verisk Analytics worth $22,208,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in VRSK. Amundi increased its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 430,719 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 6.8% during 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. raised its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 2.7% during 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 last quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich lifted its stake in Verisk Analytics by 11.6% in 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 buying an additional 81,604 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Two Sigma Advisers LP lifted its stake in Verisk Analytics by 46.7% in the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 614,831 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $164,750,000 after buying an additional 195,700 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on VRSK. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $300.00 price target on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. 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, February 27th. Morgan Stanley raised 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. Barclays lowered 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 report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $299.33.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

NASDAQ:VRSK opened at $294.58 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $41.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.96, a P/E/G ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $290.81 and its two-hundred day moving average is $281.39. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $217.34 and a fifty-two week high of $306.10. 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 (NASDAQ:VRSK) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The business services provider reported $1.61 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 analyst estimates of $733.55 million. Analysts expect that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.45 dividend. This is a positive change from Verisk Analytics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.61%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Verisk Analytics’s payout ratio is currently 26.87%.

Verisk Analytics announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase plan 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 stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Verisk Analytics

In related news, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at approximately $2,557,155.96. This trade represents a 18.89 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the business’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 transaction, the director now directly owns 13,786 shares in the company, valued at $3,760,958.66. This trade 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 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.