LGT Group Foundation Boosts Stock Position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

LGT Group Foundation lifted its position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 4.9% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 38,886 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,816 shares during the quarter. LGT Group Foundation’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $10,482,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of VRSK. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter worth about $374,530,000. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 90.5% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,141,516 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $272,663,000 after acquiring an additional 542,432 shares during the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc lifted its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 45.8% in the 4th quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 1,342,721 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $320,722,000 after acquiring an additional 422,002 shares during the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado lifted its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 178.5% in the 4th quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 319,341 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $76,278,000 after acquiring an additional 204,657 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,407,133 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,919,008,000 after acquiring an additional 170,620 shares during the last quarter. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on VRSK shares. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $268.00 target price on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on Verisk Analytics from $278.00 to $263.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Wells Fargo & Company raised Verisk Analytics to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $282.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their price target on Verisk Analytics from $268.00 to $285.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Verisk Analytics currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $273.54.

Verisk Analytics Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ:VRSK traded up $2.24 during trading on Monday, hitting $273.90. The stock had a trading volume of 25,570 shares, compared to its average volume of 813,517. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 12 month low of $215.32 and a 12 month high of $287.13. The company has a market capitalization of $39.08 billion, a PE ratio of 50.68, a PEG ratio of 3.44 and a beta of 0.86. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $271.81 and its 200 day moving average is $253.09. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.86.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The business services provider reported $1.74 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.64 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $716.80 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $722.45 million. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 252.11% and a net margin of 32.03%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.51 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Sunday, September 15th will be paid a $0.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.57%. Verisk Analytics’s payout ratio is currently 29.10%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Verisk Analytics news, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 326 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $272.22, for a total transaction of $88,743.72. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 7,470 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,033,483.40. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $277.38, for a total transaction of $55,476.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 16,408 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,551,251.04. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 326 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $272.22, for a total value of $88,743.72. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 7,470 shares in the company, valued at $2,033,483.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 726 shares of company stock worth $196,682 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

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.