DnB Asset Management AS Reduces Holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

DnB Asset Management AS reduced its position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 1.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 28,793 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 305 shares during the period. DnB Asset Management AS’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $7,930,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Manchester Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 468.8% in the fourth quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 91 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares during the period. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter worth $28,000. Roxbury Financial LLC purchased a new position in Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter worth $29,000. Finally, SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $295.36, for a total transaction of $348,229.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 13,786 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,071,832.96. The trade was a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 17th. The shares were 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 directly owns 9,066 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,557,155.96. The trade was a 18.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 5,648 shares of company stock worth $1,613,047. 0.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

NASDAQ:VRSK opened at $294.58 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $290.81 and its 200-day simple moving average is $281.39. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36. The stock has a market cap of $41.32 billion, a PE ratio of 45.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $217.34 and a fifty-two week high of $306.10.

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

Verisk Analytics announced that its board has initiated a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 26th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the business services provider to reacquire up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.45 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This is a boost from Verisk Analytics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.61%. Verisk Analytics’s payout ratio is currently 26.87%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently issued reports on VRSK. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on Verisk Analytics from $298.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $297.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Verisk Analytics from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $300.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Barclays downgraded shares of Verisk Analytics from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $310.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $299.33.

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.