Westpac Banking Corp Cuts Stock Holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Westpac Banking Corp trimmed its position in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 24.0% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,086 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 343 shares during the quarter. Westpac Banking Corp’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $323,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Public Sector Pension Investment Board boosted its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 10.0% during the 1st quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 19,255 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $5,731,000 after acquiring an additional 1,753 shares during the last quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance boosted its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 1.5% during the 1st quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 12,599 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,750,000 after acquiring an additional 184 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in Verisk Analytics during the 1st quarter worth $508,611,000. Aigen Investment Management LP purchased a new position in Verisk Analytics during the 1st quarter worth $301,000. Finally, King Luther Capital Management Corp boosted its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 1.9% during the 1st quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp now owns 174,183 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $51,840,000 after acquiring an additional 3,220 shares during the last quarter. 90.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 5,419 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $300.86, for a total transaction of $1,630,360.34. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 55,913 shares in the company, valued at $16,821,985.18. This represents a 8.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Samuel G. Liss sold 11,656 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $313.06, for a total value of $3,649,027.36. Following the sale, the director owned 67,244 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,051,406.64. This represents a 14.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 23,120 shares of company stock valued at $7,192,416. Corporate insiders own 0.46% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on VRSK shares. Raymond James Financial set a $315.00 target price on Verisk Analytics and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Verisk Analytics from $320.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. UBS Group lowered their target price on Verisk Analytics from $320.00 to $300.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Verisk Analytics from $317.00 to $319.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Verisk Analytics has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $305.60.

Verisk Analytics Trading Up 1.6%

Shares of Verisk Analytics stock opened at $264.19 on Thursday. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 52-week low of $259.01 and a 52-week high of $322.92. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $297.17 and its 200 day simple moving average is $296.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $36.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.71, a P/E/G ratio of 3.68 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.34, a quick ratio of 1.53 and a current ratio of 1.53.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The business services provider reported $1.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.77 by $0.11. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 460.89% and a net margin of 30.67%. The business had revenue of $772.60 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $767.91 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.74 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 15th will be given a dividend of $0.45 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 15th. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio is currently 27.73%.

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.