PNC Financial Services Group Inc. Sells 929 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 1.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 48,600 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 929 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc.’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $11,609,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in VRSK. CVA Family Office LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. Global Retirement Partners LLC increased its position in Verisk Analytics by 48.5% in the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 150 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 49 shares during the last quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 506.5% in the third quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 188 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $44,000 after buying an additional 157 shares during the period. NBC Securities Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics during the 3rd quarter valued at $50,000. Finally, VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics during the 3rd quarter valued at $58,000. Institutional investors own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Verisk Analytics news, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 1,554 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $222.93, for a total transaction of $346,433.22. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 51,715 shares in the company, valued at $11,528,824.95. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other Verisk Analytics news, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 227 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $237.61, for a total transaction of $53,937.47. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 7,796 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,852,407.56. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 1,554 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $222.93, for a total transaction of $346,433.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 51,715 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,528,824.95. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 11,304 shares of company stock worth $2,648,390 in the last 90 days. 0.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

NASDAQ:VRSK opened at $253.64 on Thursday. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 52-week low of $214.67 and a 52-week high of $254.08. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $233.80 and a 200 day moving average of $237.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.94, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a current ratio of 1.09. The firm has a market capitalization of $36.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.32, a P/E/G ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 0.79.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 1st. The business services provider reported $1.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.52 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $704.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $699.07 million. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 28.45% and a return on equity of 268.19%. The firm’s revenue was up 8.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.29 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics announced that its board has approved a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 21st that permits the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the business services provider to reacquire up to 2.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Investors of record on Saturday, June 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.62%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 14th. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio is currently 29.10%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $238.00 to $241.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Evercore ISI reissued an “in-line” rating and issued a $250.00 price target on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $254.31.

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.