Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Reduces Stock Position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans decreased its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 2.6% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 5,757 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 155 shares during the quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans’ holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $1,552,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics during the 2nd quarter worth $31,000. Chilton Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Verisk Analytics during the second quarter worth about $34,000. OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new position in Verisk Analytics in the 1st quarter valued at about $28,000. Rothschild Investment LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Finally, Riverview Trust Co acquired a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics during the 1st quarter worth approximately $40,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VRSK has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Verisk Analytics to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. Barclays increased their price target on Verisk Analytics from $275.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $255.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $282.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $268.00 to $285.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $276.69.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ VRSK opened at $270.67 on Friday. 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 company has a market cap of $38.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.36 and a beta of 0.86. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $268.68 and its two-hundred day moving average is $256.70. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 1-year low of $215.32 and a 1-year high of $287.13.

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

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Sunday, September 15th were paid a dividend of $0.39 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 13th. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.58%. Verisk Analytics’s payout ratio is currently 29.10%.

Insider Activity at Verisk Analytics

In other Verisk Analytics news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $277.38, for a total transaction of $55,476.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 16,408 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,551,251.04. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.