Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) Shares Sold by Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd.

Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. lowered its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 26.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 715 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 253 shares during the quarter. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd.’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $170,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VRSK. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 5.5% in 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 buying an additional 392,945 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,929,841 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,164,626,000 after buying an additional 182,631 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 1.3% in the 1st quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,821,265 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $731,736,000 after buying an additional 49,928 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 248.2% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,765,708 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $664,346,000 after buying an additional 2,684,234 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Citigroup Inc. boosted its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 1,404.8% in the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 1,992,727 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $470,762,000 after buying an additional 1,860,298 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently commented on VRSK. Evercore ISI reiterated an “in-line” rating and issued a $250.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Bank of America downgraded shares of Verisk Analytics from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the company from $270.00 to $260.00 in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $252.00.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

Verisk Analytics stock opened at $222.18 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $31.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 52.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.77 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. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $237.39 and a 200-day moving average of $237.56. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 52 week low of $187.86 and a 52 week high of $251.98.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The business services provider reported $1.40 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.44 by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $677.20 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $673.56 million. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 22.92% and a return on equity of 305.15%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.43 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were given a dividend of $0.39 per share. This is a positive change from Verisk Analytics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio is currently 37.05%.

Verisk Analytics declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 21st that allows the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the business services provider to purchase up to 2.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at Verisk Analytics

In related news, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 1,507 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.25, for a total transaction of $375,619.75. Following the sale, 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 accessible through this hyperlink. In other Verisk Analytics news, CAO David J. Grover sold 6,481 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 12,140 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,829,348.40. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 1,507 shares of the 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 50,208 shares in the company, valued at $12,514,344. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 11,300 shares of company stock valued at $2,647,952. Corporate 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.