Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) Shares Sold by Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund decreased its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 73.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,449 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 17,447 shares during the quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $1,540,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VRSK. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 5.5% during 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 purchasing an additional 392,945 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 21.4% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,195,471 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $282,418,000 after acquiring an additional 211,032 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 182,631 shares during the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 131.2% during the 3rd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 312,569 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $73,841,000 after purchasing an additional 177,391 shares during the period. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc increased its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 22.1% in the 3rd quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 920,719 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $217,511,000 after purchasing an additional 166,656 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Verisk Analytics news, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 1,554 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $222.93, for a total transaction of $346,433.22. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 51,715 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,528,824.95. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other Verisk Analytics news, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 1,554 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $222.93, for a total value of $346,433.22. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 51,715 shares in the company, valued at $11,528,824.95. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO David J. Grover sold 6,481 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $233.06, for a total transaction of $1,510,461.86. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 12,140 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,829,348.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 11,300 shares of company stock worth $2,647,952. Corporate insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

Shares of VRSK opened at $221.14 on Friday. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 1 year low of $187.86 and a 1 year high of $251.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $31.57 billion, a PE ratio of 52.53, a PEG ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.85, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.05. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $232.86 and a 200-day simple moving average of $236.57.

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

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a dividend of $0.39 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.71%. This is an increase from Verisk Analytics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. Verisk Analytics’s payout ratio is presently 37.05%.

Verisk Analytics declared that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 21st that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the business services provider to reacquire up to 2.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

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.