Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Decreases Stock Holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund cut its holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 73.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 6,449 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 17,447 shares during the quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $1,540,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. California Public Employees Retirement System increased its stake in Verisk Analytics by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 816,223 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $194,963,000 after acquiring an additional 3,935 shares during the last quarter. Telemus Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 86.3% during the 4th quarter. Telemus Capital LLC now owns 1,578 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $377,000 after purchasing an additional 731 shares during the last quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB raised its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 117.1% during the 4th quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 51,672 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $12,342,000 after buying an additional 27,870 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd lifted its position in Verisk Analytics by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 13,608 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,250,000 after buying an additional 162 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Verdence Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 39.0% in the fourth quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 5,634 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,346,000 after acquiring an additional 1,580 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Verisk Analytics

In other news, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 1,507 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.25, for a total value of $375,619.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 50,208 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,514,344. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Verisk Analytics news, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 227 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $237.61, for a total transaction of $53,937.47. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 7,796 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,852,407.56. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 1,507 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.25, for a total transaction of $375,619.75. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 50,208 shares in the company, valued at $12,514,344. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 11,300 shares of company stock valued at $2,647,952. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

Shares of Verisk Analytics stock opened at $221.14 on Friday. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 12 month low of $187.86 and a 12 month high of $251.98. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $232.86 and its 200-day moving average price is $236.57. The firm has a market cap of $31.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 52.53, a P/E/G ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a current ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.85.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last posted its 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 net margin of 22.92% and a return on equity of 305.15%. The business had revenue of $677.20 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $673.56 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.43 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.71%. This is a positive change from Verisk Analytics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio is currently 37.05%.

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

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.