Two Sigma Investments LP Sells 97,028 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Two Sigma Investments LP cut its position in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 19.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 407,877 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 97,028 shares during the quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $112,342,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Manchester Capital Management LLC boosted 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 valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Centricity Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Roxbury Financial LLC bought a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter worth $29,000. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter worth $30,000. Finally, Kestra Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter worth $32,000. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have commented on VRSK shares. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on 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 target price on Verisk Analytics from $320.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Bank of America started coverage on Verisk Analytics in a report on Thursday, April 10th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $280.00 target price on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Verisk Analytics from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on Verisk Analytics from $295.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, May 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $302.40.

Verisk Analytics Stock Up 0.7%

VRSK stock opened at $309.57 on Monday. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 1-year low of $245.01 and a 1-year high of $312.82. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $293.14 and a 200-day moving average price of $288.24. 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 has a market capitalization of $43.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 48.29, a P/E/G ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The business services provider reported $1.73 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $750.31 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.63 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

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

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

Insider Transactions at Verisk Analytics

In related news, CAO David J. Grover sold 5,705 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 9th. The stock was 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 owns 12,937 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,980,456.16. This represents a 30.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $295.38, for a total value of $88,614.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 16,665 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,922,507.70. This trade represents a 1.77% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 8,363 shares of company stock worth $2,529,187 over the last quarter. 0.46% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.