Voya Investment Management LLC Cuts Stock Position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Voya Investment Management LLC decreased its position in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 10.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 244,526 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 29,654 shares during the period. Voya Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $67,264,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Manchester Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 468.8% during the fourth quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 91 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Roxbury Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Finally, SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter worth $30,000. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verisk Analytics

In other Verisk Analytics news, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $295.36, for a total value of $348,229.44. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 13,786 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,071,832.96. The trade was a 7.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $295.38, for a total transaction of $88,614.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 16,665 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,922,507.70. The trade was a 1.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 3,837 shares of company stock worth $1,121,618. 0.46% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Verisk Analytics Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of Verisk Analytics stock opened at $288.24 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $291.89 and a 200-day simple moving average of $284.58. The stock has a market cap of $40.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.97, a PEG ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.88. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 12-month low of $217.34 and a 12-month high of $306.68.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 32.65% and a return on equity of 274.13%. The company had revenue of $735.60 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $733.55 million. On average, equities analysts forecast that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a dividend of $0.45 per share. This is a positive change from Verisk Analytics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.62%. Verisk Analytics’s payout ratio is 26.87%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently issued reports on VRSK. 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 report on Thursday, February 27th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $298.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Barclays downgraded shares of Verisk Analytics from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $310.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Thursday, April 10th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $280.00 price objective on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Verisk Analytics presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $297.40.

Verisk Analytics Company 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.