PGGM Investments Has $7.89 Million Position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

PGGM Investments boosted its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 1.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 33,018 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 492 shares during the quarter. PGGM Investments’ holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $7,887,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC raised its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 20.5% in the 3rd quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 4,654 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,099,000 after acquiring an additional 791 shares in the last quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB raised its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 23,802 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $5,623,000 after acquiring an additional 700 shares in the last quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics in the 3rd quarter worth about $202,000. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC raised its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 62.6% in the 3rd quarter. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC now owns 6,904 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,631,000 after acquiring an additional 2,659 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cavalier Investments LLC raised its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. Cavalier Investments LLC now owns 10,581 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,500,000 after acquiring an additional 385 shares in the last quarter. 90.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Verisk Analytics

In other news, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 1,554 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $222.93, for a total value of $346,433.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 51,715 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,528,824.95. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, CAO David J. Grover sold 6,481 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $233.06, for a total value of $1,510,461.86. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 12,140 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,829,348.40. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 1,554 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $222.93, for a total value of $346,433.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 51,715 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,528,824.95. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 11,300 shares of company stock worth $2,647,952 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on VRSK. Bank of America lowered Verisk Analytics from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $270.00 to $260.00 in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Evercore ISI reaffirmed an “in-line” rating and issued a $250.00 target price on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $252.00.

Verisk Analytics Stock Down 0.7 %

VRSK traded down $1.65 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $221.14. 815,689 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 855,469. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.85, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.05. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $232.86 and its 200 day moving average price is $236.51. The company has a market cap of $31.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.78. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a one year low of $187.86 and a one year high of $251.98.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 21st. The business services provider reported $1.40 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.44 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $677.20 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $673.56 million. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 305.15% and a net margin of 22.92%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.43 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.48 EPS for the current year.

Verisk Analytics declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 21st that permits the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the business services provider to purchase up to 2.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a dividend of $0.39 per share. This is a positive change from Verisk Analytics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.71%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. Verisk Analytics’s payout ratio is currently 37.05%.

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.