New York State Common Retirement Fund Sells 18,004 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

New York State Common Retirement Fund reduced its position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 13.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 115,180 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 18,004 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $30,864,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of VRSK. Private Advisor Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 2.0% in the 1st quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 2,739 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $646,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC raised its stake in Verisk Analytics by 8.1% in the first quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 67,671 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $15,952,000 after buying an additional 5,095 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas acquired a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the first quarter worth about $254,000. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 9.9% during the first quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 22,020 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $5,191,000 after acquiring an additional 1,986 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. grew its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 2.9% during the first quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 1,533 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $361,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. 90.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently commented on VRSK. Morgan Stanley increased 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. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $268.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Barclays upped their target price on Verisk Analytics from $275.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $282.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Evercore ISI reiterated an “in-line” rating and set a $279.00 price target on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $285.80.

Insider Activity at Verisk Analytics

In related news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $271.33, for a total transaction of $54,266.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 15,808 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,289,184.64. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

NASDAQ:VRSK opened at $275.48 on Monday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $269.07 and its two-hundred day moving average is $262.81. The firm has a market cap of $38.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.98, a PEG ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 0.82. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a one year low of $217.34 and a one year high of $287.13.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $1.67 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.07. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 274.13% and a net margin of 32.65%. The firm had revenue of $725.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $722.19 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.52 earnings per share. Verisk Analytics’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.61 EPS for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.34%.

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.