Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. Has $85.70 Million Position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 0.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 358,768 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 2,990 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. owned about 0.25% of Verisk Analytics worth $85,695,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in VRSK. Morgan Stanley increased its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 248.2% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,765,708 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $664,346,000 after acquiring an additional 2,684,234 shares during the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 1,404.8% during the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 1,992,727 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $470,762,000 after acquiring an additional 1,860,298 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter worth approximately $268,659,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 5.5% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 7,523,191 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,777,279,000 after acquiring an additional 392,945 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Verisk Analytics by 40.4% in the 4th quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 1,205,157 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $212,612,000 after purchasing an additional 346,785 shares during the period. 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 business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $222.93, for a total transaction of $346,433.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 51,715 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,528,824.95. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other Verisk Analytics news, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 1,554 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 51,715 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,528,824.95. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO David J. Grover sold 6,481 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 approximately $2,829,348.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 11,300 shares of company stock valued at $2,647,952. Corporate insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

NASDAQ:VRSK opened at $222.25 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.85, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.05. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $187.86 and a fifty-two week high of $251.98. The company has a market cap of $31.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.79, a PEG ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.78. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $236.30 and a 200-day moving average price of $237.36.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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). Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 305.15% and a net margin of 22.92%. The business had revenue of $677.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $673.56 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.43 EPS. Verisk Analytics’s quarterly revenue was up 7.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Wednesday, February 21st that permits the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the business services provider to reacquire up to 2.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a dividend of $0.39 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.70%. This is a boost from Verisk Analytics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. Verisk Analytics’s payout ratio is 37.05%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VRSK has been the subject of several recent research reports. Bank of America downgraded Verisk Analytics from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $270.00 to $260.00 in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Evercore ISI restated an “in-line” rating and issued a $250.00 price target on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $252.00.

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.