Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) Stock Position Raised by Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank

Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 1.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 110,039 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,581 shares during the quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank owned approximately 0.08% of Verisk Analytics worth $26,284,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted 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 valued at $1,777,279,000 after acquiring an additional 392,945 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted 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 valued at $1,164,626,000 after acquiring an additional 182,631 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted 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 valued at $731,736,000 after acquiring an additional 49,928 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted 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 valued at $664,346,000 after acquiring an additional 2,684,234 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Citigroup Inc. lifted 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 valued at $470,762,000 after acquiring an additional 1,860,298 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

Shares of VRSK opened at $222.25 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.85. The company’s fifty day moving average is $236.30 and its 200-day moving average is $237.36. The firm has a market cap of $31.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.78. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 12 month low of $187.86 and a 12 month high of $251.98.

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

Verisk Analytics announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share 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 purchase up to 2.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a dividend of $0.39 per share. This is an increase 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%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO David J. Grover sold 6,481 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $233.06, for a total transaction of $1,510,461.86. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 12,140 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,829,348.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other Verisk Analytics news, CAO David J. Grover sold 6,481 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $233.06, for a total value of $1,510,461.86. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 12,140 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,829,348.40. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 227 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $237.61, for a total transaction of $53,937.47. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 7,796 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,852,407.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 11,300 shares of company stock valued at $2,647,952. Company insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have weighed in on VRSK shares. Evercore ISI reiterated an “in-line” rating and issued a $250.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Bank of America lowered shares of Verisk Analytics from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective 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 assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $252.00.

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.