The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Cuts Stake in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company cut its position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 1.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 86,951 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 1,476 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $23,438,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. raised its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 225.5% in the 4th quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 205,110 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $48,993,000 after acquiring an additional 142,088 shares during the last quarter. Pinebridge Investments L.P. increased its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 64.2% in the 4th quarter. Pinebridge Investments L.P. now owns 8,231 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,966,000 after purchasing an additional 3,219 shares in the last quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter worth $698,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,407,133 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,919,008,000 after purchasing an additional 170,620 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. boosted its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 1.2% during the first quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 362,915 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $85,550,000 after buying an additional 4,147 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have issued reports on VRSK shares. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $268.00 target price on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $250.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 25th. UBS Group increased their price target on Verisk Analytics from $255.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Verisk Analytics from $243.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on Verisk Analytics from $268.00 to $285.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $275.23.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:VRSK opened at $268.62 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $38.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.12, a P/E/G ratio of 3.36 and a beta of 0.86. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 1-year low of $215.32 and a 1-year high of $287.13. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $268.96 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $256.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.86, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.95.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The business services provider reported $1.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.64 by $0.10. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 252.11% and a net margin of 32.03%. The business had revenue of $716.80 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $722.45 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.51 EPS. Verisk Analytics’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Sunday, September 15th were paid a $0.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 13th. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.58%. Verisk Analytics’s payout ratio is 29.10%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verisk Analytics

In other news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $277.38, for a total value of $55,476.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 16,408 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,551,251.04. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Verisk Analytics Company 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.