Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. Sells 160 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 0.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 67,804 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 160 shares during the quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $18,675,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 6.5% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,618,971 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,237,700,000 after purchasing an additional 283,653 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 6.8% in the third 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. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Verisk Analytics by 1.0% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 801,150 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $214,676,000 after acquiring an additional 8,262 shares during the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP grew its position in Verisk Analytics by 46.7% in the third quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 614,831 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $164,750,000 after acquiring an additional 195,700 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its position in Verisk Analytics by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 332,650 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $91,622,000 after acquiring an additional 1,308 shares during the last quarter. 90.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

Shares of VRSK opened at $288.03 on Thursday. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 52-week low of $217.34 and a 52-week high of $300.50. 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 business’s 50 day moving average price is $283.61 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $277.94. The firm has a market cap of $40.67 billion, a PE ratio of 44.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The business services provider reported $1.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.01. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 274.13% and a net margin of 32.65%. The firm had revenue of $735.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $733.55 million. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current year.

Verisk Analytics declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback program on Wednesday, February 26th that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the business services provider to buy up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.45 dividend. This is a positive change from Verisk Analytics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.62%. Verisk Analytics’s payout ratio is 24.34%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verisk Analytics

In other news, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.06, for a total transaction of $595,428.66. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 9,066 shares in the company, valued at $2,557,155.96. The trade was a 18.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $272.81, for a total value of $321,642.99. Following the sale, the director now owns 13,786 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,760,958.66. This trade represents a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 4,469 shares of company stock valued at $1,264,818. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VRSK has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Verisk Analytics from $285.00 to $301.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $300.00 target price on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Barclays cut Verisk Analytics from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $310.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Verisk Analytics from $313.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Verisk Analytics from $263.00 to $276.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Verisk Analytics has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $295.33.

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.