Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) Shares Sold by South Dakota Investment Council

South Dakota Investment Council reduced its position in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 29.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,729 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 2,000 shares during the period. South Dakota Investment Council’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $1,130,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in VRSK. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 5.5% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 7,523,191 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,777,279,000 after acquiring an additional 392,945 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 21.4% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,195,471 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $282,418,000 after acquiring an additional 211,032 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,929,841 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,164,626,000 after acquiring an additional 182,631 shares in the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. raised its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 131.2% during the 3rd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 312,569 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $73,841,000 after acquiring an additional 177,391 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc raised its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 22.1% during the 3rd quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 920,719 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $217,511,000 after acquiring an additional 166,656 shares in the last quarter. 90.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

NASDAQ:VRSK opened at $222.25 on Thursday. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 1 year low of $187.86 and a 1 year high of $251.98. The stock has a market cap of $31.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.79, a PEG ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.78. The business has a fifty day moving average of $233.80 and a 200-day moving average of $236.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.85, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.05.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The business services provider reported $1.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.44 by ($0.04). Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 305.15% and a net margin of 22.92%. The business had revenue of $677.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $673.56 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.43 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Verisk Analytics declared that its board has authorized a share buyback plan on Wednesday, February 21st that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the business services provider to buy up to 2.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a dividend of $0.39 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.70%. This is a boost from Verisk Analytics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 37.05%.

Insider Activity at Verisk Analytics

In related news, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 1,554 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $222.93, for a total transaction of $346,433.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 51,715 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,528,824.95. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 1,554 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $222.93, for a total transaction of $346,433.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 51,715 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,528,824.95. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CAO David J. Grover sold 6,481 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $233.06, for a total value of $1,510,461.86. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 12,140 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,829,348.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 11,300 shares of company stock valued at $2,647,952 over the last 90 days. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on VRSK shares. Bank of America lowered Verisk Analytics from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $270.00 to $260.00 in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Evercore ISI reaffirmed an “in-line” rating and issued a $250.00 target price on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Verisk Analytics has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $252.00.

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.