Pacer Advisors Inc. Raises Stock Position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 63.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 55,868 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 21,719 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $16,627,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. LPL Financial LLC lifted its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 16.4% in the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 108,103 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $29,775,000 after acquiring an additional 15,233 shares during the period. Korea Investment CORP increased its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 74.1% during the 4th quarter. Korea Investment CORP now owns 80,629 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $22,208,000 after purchasing an additional 34,309 shares during the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 8.1% in the 4th quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 232,529 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $64,243,000 after purchasing an additional 17,519 shares during the period. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co boosted its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 13.0% in the fourth quarter. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co now owns 14,227 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,919,000 after buying an additional 1,633 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in Verisk Analytics by 7.7% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 747,337 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $205,839,000 after buying an additional 53,502 shares during the period. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Verisk Analytics

In other news, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 5,419 shares of the firm’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 completion of the transaction, the insider owned 55,913 shares in the company, valued at $16,821,985.18. This trade represents a 8.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 300 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $303.88, for a total value of $91,164.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 15,765 shares in the company, valued at $4,790,668.20. This trade represents a 1.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 28,825 shares of company stock valued at $8,947,730 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.46% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VRSK has been the topic of several recent research reports. Bank of America began coverage on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $280.00 price target on the stock. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Verisk Analytics from $320.00 to $335.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on Verisk Analytics from $295.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, May 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $302.40.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

NASDAQ:VRSK opened at $297.96 on Friday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $308.47 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $297.12. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 52 week low of $257.59 and a 52 week high of $322.92. The stock has a market cap of $41.68 billion, a PE ratio of 43.63, a P/E/G ratio of 3.78 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a quick ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 26.13.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The business services provider reported $1.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $750.31 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.63 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th were given a dividend of $0.45 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 13th. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.60%. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio is 26.35%.

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.