Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. Acquires 666 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK – Get Rating) by 10.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,346 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 666 shares during the quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd.’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $1,253,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Teacher Retirement System of Texas lifted its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 17.4% during the second quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 38,011 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $6,579,000 after purchasing an additional 5,629 shares during the last quarter. Wedbush Securities Inc. lifted its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 10.1% during the third quarter. Wedbush Securities Inc. now owns 2,113 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $360,000 after purchasing an additional 194 shares during the last quarter. UBS Asset Management Americas Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 2.6% in the third quarter. UBS Asset Management Americas Inc. now owns 773,340 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $131,878,000 after acquiring an additional 19,377 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 24.2% in the second quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 8,048 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,393,000 after acquiring an additional 1,566 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hartford Investment Management Co. raised its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 2.4% in the third quarter. Hartford Investment Management Co. now owns 17,969 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,064,000 after acquiring an additional 416 shares in the last quarter. 89.89% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VRSK has been the subject of several recent research reports. StockNews.com upgraded Verisk Analytics from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 2nd. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $191.00 to $188.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 2nd. Credit Suisse Group lifted their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $165.00 to $187.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, March 6th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $201.00 to $206.00 in a report on Thursday, March 2nd. Finally, Redburn Partners initiated coverage on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Wednesday, January 11th. They issued a “sell” rating for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Verisk Analytics currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $201.09.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

Shares of VRSK stock opened at $180.90 on Wednesday. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $156.05 and a fifty-two week high of $222.11. The firm has a market capitalization of $27.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.35, a PEG ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.33, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a current ratio of 0.40. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $180.05 and its 200-day simple moving average is $178.59.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 1st. The business services provider reported $1.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.17 by $0.26. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 41.53% and a net margin of 32.92%. The business had revenue of $630.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $615.30 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.47 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up .0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 5.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.34 per share. This is a positive change from Verisk Analytics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 14th. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.75%. Verisk Analytics’s payout ratio is presently 20.81%.

Verisk Analytics Company Profile

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Verisk Analytics, Inc is a data analytics provider, which engages in the provision of data analytics for customers in insurance, energy markets and financial services. It operates through the following segments: Insurance, Energy & Specialized Markets, and Financial Services. The Insurance segment serves insurance customers and focuses on the prediction of loss, the selection and pricing of risk, and compliance.