Two Sigma Advisers LP Sells 51,700 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Two Sigma Advisers LP lowered its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 8.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 563,131 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 51,700 shares during the period. Two Sigma Advisers LP owned approximately 0.40% of Verisk Analytics worth $155,103,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Manchester Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 468.8% in the fourth quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 91 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Centricity Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Roxbury Financial LLC purchased a new position in Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. Finally, Kestra Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. Institutional investors own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verisk Analytics

In other Verisk Analytics news, CAO David J. Grover sold 5,705 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 12,937 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,980,456.16. This represents a 30.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $295.36, for a total transaction of $348,229.44. Following the sale, the director now directly 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 8,363 shares of company stock valued at $2,529,187. Insiders own 0.46% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VRSK has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 27th. 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 target price for the company. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $297.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $320.00 to $335.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $295.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, May 12th. One equities 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 MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $302.40.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

VRSK stock opened at $309.57 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $43.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 48.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 1 year low of $245.01 and a 1 year high of $312.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.82. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $293.14 and its 200-day moving average price is $288.24.

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

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

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.45 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.58%. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio is currently 26.35%.

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.