iA Global Asset Management Inc. Cuts Holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

iA Global Asset Management Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 0.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 26,892 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 164 shares during the quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $7,407,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Teacher Retirement System of Texas grew its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 12.1% in the fourth quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 68,997 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $19,004,000 after purchasing an additional 7,429 shares during the last quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. grew its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 63,497 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $17,489,000 after purchasing an additional 280 shares during the last quarter. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd grew its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 31.8% in the fourth quarter. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd now owns 9,026 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,486,000 after purchasing an additional 2,179 shares during the last quarter. Saiph Capital LLC grew its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 18.5% in the fourth quarter. Saiph Capital LLC now owns 2,856 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $787,000 after purchasing an additional 445 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Xponance Inc. grew its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 40,819 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $11,243,000 after purchasing an additional 320 shares during the last quarter. 90.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VRSK has been the topic of several analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $297.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Barclays lowered shares of Verisk Analytics from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $310.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Friday, January 10th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $283.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $298.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $299.33.

Verisk Analytics Trading Down 0.7 %

NASDAQ VRSK opened at $287.68 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $40.35 billion, a PE ratio of 44.88, a P/E/G ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a fifty day moving average of $288.95 and a 200 day moving average of $280.63. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 1 year low of $217.34 and a 1 year high of $306.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.82.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The business services provider reported $1.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.01. The company 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%. Research analysts forecast that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given 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 0.63%. This is an increase from Verisk Analytics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio is 26.87%.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Verisk Analytics news, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $272.81, for a total value of $321,642.99. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 13,786 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,760,958.66. This represents a 7.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of the company’s 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 owns 9,066 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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 quarter, insiders sold 5,648 shares of company stock worth $1,613,047. Company insiders own 0.40% 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.