Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) Shares Sold by DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale

DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale cut its position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 2.9% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 107,722 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 3,227 shares during the quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale owned approximately 0.08% of Verisk Analytics worth $29,176,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VRSK. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,407,133 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,919,008,000 after acquiring an additional 170,620 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter worth $374,530,000. TD Asset Management Inc raised its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 5.5% in the second quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 1,502,614 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $405,030,000 after buying an additional 78,008 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 90.5% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,141,516 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $272,663,000 after buying an additional 542,432 shares during the period. Finally, GUARDCAP ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 1.1% during the first quarter. GUARDCAP ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd now owns 1,137,069 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $268,041,000 after buying an additional 12,231 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $262.31, for a total value of $52,462.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 16,608 shares in the company, valued at $4,356,444.48. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $262.31, for a total value of $52,462.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 16,608 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,356,444.48. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 326 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $272.22, for a total value of $88,743.72. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 7,470 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,033,483.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 726 shares of company stock worth $196,682. Insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on VRSK. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $268.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $243.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $278.00 to $263.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Verisk Analytics to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $268.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $275.23.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:VRSK opened at $268.79 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $38.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.42 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.86, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $271.71 and its 200-day simple moving average is $254.02. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 12 month low of $215.32 and a 12 month high of $287.13.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The business services provider reported $1.74 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.64 by $0.10. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 252.11% and a net margin of 32.03%. The company had revenue of $716.80 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $722.45 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.51 earnings per share. Verisk Analytics’s quarterly revenue was up 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Sunday, September 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.39 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.58%. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 29.10%.

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.