First Hawaiian Bank Reduces Stake in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

First Hawaiian Bank lessened its holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 0.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,682 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 59 shares during the quarter. First Hawaiian Bank’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $2,667,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. FMR LLC grew its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 6.5% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,618,971 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,237,700,000 after acquiring an additional 283,653 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its position in Verisk Analytics by 7.4% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 1,618,266 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $436,204,000 after purchasing an additional 111,364 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 6.8% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,231,201 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $331,476,000 after purchasing an additional 78,376 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 8.4% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,103,628 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $297,491,000 after purchasing an additional 85,202 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 801,150 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $214,676,000 after purchasing an additional 8,262 shares during the period. 90.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Verisk Analytics Stock Up 2.5 %

Shares of VRSK opened at $280.42 on Thursday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $282.65 and a 200 day moving average price of $274.55. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a one year low of $217.34 and a one year high of $296.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.82. The stock has a market capitalization of $39.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.75, a PEG ratio of 3.55 and a beta of 0.88.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $1.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $725.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $722.19 million. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 32.65% and a return on equity of 274.13%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.52 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th were paid a $0.39 dividend. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.56%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 13th. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.34%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on VRSK. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $285.00 to $301.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on Verisk Analytics from $263.00 to $276.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Verisk Analytics from $283.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Evercore ISI restated an “in-line” rating and issued a $279.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 target price on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Tuesday. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Verisk Analytics has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $293.11.

Insider Transactions at Verisk Analytics

In related news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $271.33, for a total transaction of $54,266.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 15,808 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,289,184.64. This trade represents a 1.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Lee Shavel sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.71, for a total value of $280,710.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 53,163 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,923,385.73. The trade was a 1.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 3,579 shares of company stock worth $1,000,407 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

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.