Nordea Investment Management AB Sells 25,293 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Nordea Investment Management AB reduced its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 3.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 649,602 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 25,293 shares during the quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB owned about 0.45% of Verisk Analytics worth $147,304,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Arlington Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics during the first quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Quarry LP purchased a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the first quarter valued at approximately $27,000. EP Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the first quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Ridgewood Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the first quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Finally, Salem Investment Counselors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the second quarter valued at approximately $30,000. 90.81% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VRSK has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Verisk Analytics from $201.00 to $219.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Verisk Analytics from $225.00 to $260.00 in a research report on Thursday, August 3rd. Raymond James upped their price target on Verisk Analytics from $225.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 3rd. Barclays upped their target price on Verisk Analytics from $250.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 3rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Verisk Analytics from $229.00 to $238.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 4th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $240.00.

Insider Transactions at Verisk Analytics

In other news, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 396 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $222.13, for a total transaction of $87,963.48. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 7,066 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,569,570.58. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 396 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $222.13, for a total value of $87,963.48. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 7,066 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,569,570.58. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Therese M. Vaughan sold 6,129 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $233.02, for a total transaction of $1,428,179.58. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 27,179 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,333,250.58. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 17,637 shares of company stock worth $4,114,332 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 1.31% of the company’s stock.

Verisk Analytics Trading Down 1.1 %

Shares of Verisk Analytics stock opened at $245.65 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $35.57 billion, a PE ratio of 74.21, a P/E/G ratio of 4.03 and a beta of 0.83. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a twelve month low of $162.94 and a twelve month high of $249.26. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $234.97 and its 200 day moving average price is $214.44. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.29.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 2nd. The business services provider reported $1.51 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.40 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $675.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $653.13 million. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 18.64% and a return on equity of 83.76%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 5.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.34 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 14th. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.55%. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio is currently 41.09%.

About Verisk Analytics

Verisk Analytics, Inc provides data analytics solutions to the insurance markets in the United States and internationally. The company provides predictive analytics and decision support solutions to customers in rating, underwriting, claims, catastrophe and weather risk, global risk analytics, and various other fields.