Vinva Investment Management Ltd Sells 2,671 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Vinva Investment Management Ltd cut its position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 21.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 9,743 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 2,671 shares during the quarter. Vinva Investment Management Ltd’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $2,687,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its position in Verisk Analytics by 7.1% during the third quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 2,258 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $605,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its position in Verisk Analytics by 384.3% during the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 27,881 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $7,471,000 after purchasing an additional 22,124 shares during the period. Caprock Group LLC boosted its position in Verisk Analytics by 1.8% during the third quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 6,390 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,712,000 after purchasing an additional 115 shares during the period. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise boosted its position in Verisk Analytics by 332.5% during the third quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise now owns 12,383 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,318,000 after purchasing an additional 9,520 shares during the period. Finally, B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG bought a new position in Verisk Analytics during the third quarter worth $8,367,000. 90.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Verisk Analytics

In other news, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $295.36, for a total value of $348,229.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 13,786 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,071,832.96. This represents a 7.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.06, for a total transaction of $595,428.66. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 9,066 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,557,155.96. This trade represents a 18.89 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 5,648 shares of company stock valued at $1,613,047. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Verisk Analytics Trading Up 0.3 %

VRSK opened at $289.74 on Thursday. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a twelve month low of $217.34 and a twelve month high of $306.10. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $288.80 and a 200 day simple moving average of $280.58. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $40.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.20, a P/E/G ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89.

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

Verisk Analytics declared that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Wednesday, February 26th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the business services provider to reacquire up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.62%. This is a boost from Verisk Analytics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio is 26.87%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have commented on VRSK shares. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective 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. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Verisk Analytics from $283.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $297.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 target price on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Barclays downgraded Verisk Analytics from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $310.00 target price for the company. in a report on Friday, January 10th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $299.33.

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.