Acadian Asset Management LLC Lowers Position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Acadian Asset Management LLC lessened its position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 34.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 59,843 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 31,715 shares during the quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $14,099,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in VRSK. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter worth $374,530,000. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 90.5% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,141,516 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $272,663,000 after purchasing an additional 542,432 shares during the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc raised its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 45.8% in the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 1,342,721 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $320,722,000 after purchasing an additional 422,002 shares during the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado raised its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 178.5% in the fourth quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 319,341 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $76,278,000 after purchasing an additional 204,657 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 1.1% in 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 purchasing an additional 170,620 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

Shares of Verisk Analytics stock traded down $4.09 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $276.83. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,382,939 shares, compared to its average volume of 718,387. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $264.03 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $246.25. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 12-month low of $215.32 and a 12-month high of $282.21. The company has a market cap of $39.50 billion, a PE ratio of 51.65, a PEG ratio of 3.44 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.94, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a current ratio of 1.09.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The business services provider reported $1.63 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.52 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $704.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $699.07 million. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 268.19% and a net margin of 28.45%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.29 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Shareholders of record on Saturday, June 15th were given a dividend of $0.39 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 14th. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.56%. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.10%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on VRSK shares. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Verisk Analytics from $250.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 25th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $238.00 to $241.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $255.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Verisk Analytics has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $258.54.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verisk Analytics

In other 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 transaction of $52,462.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 16,608 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,356,444.48. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 16,608 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,356,444.48. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 326 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 7,470 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,033,483.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 2,237 shares of company stock worth $572,739 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

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.