Arizona State Retirement System Sells 292 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Arizona State Retirement System decreased its position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 0.7% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 40,579 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 292 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $11,177,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 15.2% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,432 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $394,000 after purchasing an additional 189 shares during the period. M&T Bank Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 4.4% in the fourth quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 20,818 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $5,734,000 after purchasing an additional 883 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 14.6% in the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 7,712 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,124,000 after purchasing an additional 982 shares during the period. WoodTrust Financial Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. WoodTrust Financial Corp now owns 25,560 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $7,040,000 after purchasing an additional 313 shares during the period. Finally, Crew Capital Management Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 246.8% in the fourth quarter. Crew Capital Management Ltd. now owns 2,823 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $778,000 after purchasing an additional 2,009 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

Shares of VRSK stock opened at $295.36 on Friday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $285.92 and its 200-day simple moving average is $279.14. The company has a market cap of $41.43 billion, a PE ratio of 46.08, a PEG ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 12-month low of $217.34 and a 12-month high of $306.10.

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

Verisk Analytics declared that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 26th that permits the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the business services provider to purchase up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.45 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This is an increase from Verisk Analytics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.61%. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio is presently 26.87%.

Insider Transactions at Verisk Analytics

In related news, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $272.81, for a total value of $321,642.99. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 13,786 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,760,958.66. This represents a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.06, for a total value of $595,428.66. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 9,066 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,557,155.96. The trade was a 18.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 4,469 shares of company stock valued at $1,264,818. Corporate insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on VRSK. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on Verisk Analytics from $298.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Verisk Analytics from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Morgan Stanley upped 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 upped 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. Finally, Barclays lowered 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 equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $299.33.

Verisk Analytics Company 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.