California State Teachers Retirement System Boosts Stock Position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

California State Teachers Retirement System raised its stake in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 1.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 246,201 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,817 shares during the quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System owned 0.18% of Verisk Analytics worth $67,811,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of VRSK. Lido Advisors LLC lifted its position in Verisk Analytics by 27.8% in the fourth quarter. Lido Advisors LLC now owns 2,649 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $730,000 after purchasing an additional 576 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 13.7% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,639,719 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $451,628,000 after buying an additional 197,413 shares during the period. Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,322,000. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC grew its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 79.4% during the fourth quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC now owns 187,566 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $51,661,000 after acquiring an additional 83,030 shares during the period. Finally, Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC raised its position in Verisk Analytics by 48.6% in the fourth quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 6,212 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,711,000 after acquiring an additional 2,031 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Verisk Analytics Trading Up 1.4 %

Verisk Analytics stock opened at $292.37 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $291.59 and a 200 day moving average price of $285.04. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 52 week low of $217.34 and a 52 week high of $306.68. The stock has a market cap of $40.92 billion, a PE ratio of 45.61, a P/E/G ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The business services provider reported $1.61 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $735.60 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $733.55 million. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 32.65% and a return on equity of 274.13%. Equities research analysts predict that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a dividend of $0.45 per share. This is a boost from Verisk Analytics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.62%. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.87%.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VRSK has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $297.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $298.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company 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 note on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Bank of America started coverage on Verisk Analytics in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $280.00 price objective for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $297.40.

Insider Activity

In other Verisk Analytics news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $295.38, for a total value of $88,614.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 16,665 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,922,507.70. This trade represents a 1.77 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $285.86, for a total transaction of $337,028.94. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 13,786 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,940,865.96. This represents a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 3,837 shares of company stock valued at $1,121,618 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.46% of the company’s stock.

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.