OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd Trims Stock Holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd reduced its stake in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 13.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,147 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 484 shares during the quarter. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $752,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Quarry LP acquired a new position in Verisk Analytics in the first quarter valued at $27,000. CVA Family Office LLC acquired a new position in Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. Sunbelt Securities Inc. increased its stake in Verisk Analytics by 67.5% in the second quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 134 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. acquired a new position in Verisk Analytics in the second quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, Global Retirement Partners LLC increased its stake in Verisk Analytics by 48.5% in the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 150 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares during the last quarter. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ VRSK opened at $222.52 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $31.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.86, a PEG ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.78. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 1-year low of $187.86 and a 1-year high of $251.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.85, a current ratio of 1.05 and a quick ratio of 1.05. The business has a 50-day moving average of $235.22 and a 200-day moving average of $237.16.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last issued its quarterly 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). The business had revenue of $677.20 million during 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 company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.43 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a $0.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.70%. This is an increase 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 share repurchase program on Wednesday, February 21st that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the business services provider to purchase up to 2.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. Bank of America lowered Verisk Analytics from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $270.00 to $260.00 in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Evercore ISI restated an “in-line” rating and set a $250.00 price target on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Verisk Analytics currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $252.00.

Insider Activity at Verisk Analytics

In other Verisk Analytics news, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 1,507 shares of the 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 transaction, the insider now owns 50,208 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,514,344. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other Verisk Analytics news, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 227 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $237.61, for a total transaction of $53,937.47. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 7,796 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,852,407.56. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 1,507 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 50,208 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,514,344. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 11,300 shares of company stock valued at $2,647,952. Insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

About Verisk Analytics

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.