Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) Shares Sold by Perpetual Ltd

Perpetual Ltd cut its stake in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 4.9% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 20,275 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 1,052 shares during the quarter. Perpetual Ltd’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $6,034,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Louisbourg Investments Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the 1st quarter worth $25,000. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter worth $30,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. increased its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 6,050.0% in the 4th quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 123 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 121 shares during the last quarter. Global Financial Private Client LLC grew its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 966.7% during the 1st quarter. Global Financial Private Client LLC now owns 128 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 116 shares during the period. Finally, Minot DeBlois Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter worth $39,000. 90.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

Shares of Verisk Analytics stock opened at $308.66 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $306.40 and a 200 day moving average of $293.58. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 12 month low of $257.59 and a 12 month high of $322.92. The stock has a market capitalization of $43.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.78 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 26.13, a current ratio of 1.27 and a quick ratio of 1.27.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The business services provider reported $1.73 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.68 by $0.05. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 396.08% and a net margin of 33.13%. The company had revenue of $753.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $750.31 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.63 EPS. Verisk Analytics’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.35%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VRSK has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. UBS Group increased their price target on Verisk Analytics from $295.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, May 12th. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Verisk Analytics from $320.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Bank of America initiated coverage on Verisk Analytics in a report on Thursday, April 10th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $280.00 price target for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Verisk Analytics currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $302.40.

Insider Activity at Verisk Analytics

In other news, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $285.86, for a total value of $337,028.94. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 13,786 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,940,865.96. This trade represents a 7.88% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 5,419 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $318.10, for a total value of $1,723,783.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 56,701 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,036,588.10. The trade was a 8.72% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 24,259 shares of company stock worth $7,553,769 in the last three months. 0.46% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.