Nuveen Asset Management LLC Cuts Stake in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Nuveen Asset Management LLC cut its stake in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 10.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,617,635 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 186,100 shares during the quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC owned about 1.15% of Verisk Analytics worth $445,545,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of VRSK. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter valued at about $526,676,000. Amundi increased its stake in Verisk Analytics by 52.4% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 1,252,532 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $351,226,000 after buying an additional 430,719 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter worth $110,094,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 31,634.6% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 394,461 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $108,646,000 after acquiring an additional 393,218 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 8.1% during the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 5,210,080 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,435,012,000 after acquiring an additional 392,270 shares during the last quarter. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:VRSK opened at $301.27 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $42.14 billion, a PE ratio of 47.00, a P/E/G ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $292.57 and a 200 day simple moving average of $287.44. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $245.01 and a fifty-two week high of $312.82. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The business services provider reported $1.73 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.68 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $753.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $750.31 million. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 274.13% and a net margin of 32.65%. The business’s revenue was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.63 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be given a dividend of $0.45 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.60%. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio is currently 26.35%.

Verisk Analytics declared that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 26th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the business services provider to repurchase up to 2.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VRSK has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Bank of America initiated coverage on Verisk Analytics in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $280.00 target price on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 27th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $297.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $320.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $295.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Verisk Analytics currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $302.40.

Insider Transactions at Verisk Analytics

In other news, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $295.36, for a total value of $348,229.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 13,786 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,071,832.96. This represents 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 link. Also, CAO David J. Grover sold 5,705 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.68, for a total transaction of $1,755,314.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 12,937 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,980,456.16. This represents a 30.60% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 8,363 shares of company stock worth $2,529,187. Insiders own 0.46% 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.