UniSuper Management Pty Ltd Has $1.37 Million Stock Position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

UniSuper Management Pty Ltd raised its stake in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 292.4% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 5,827 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 4,342 shares during the period. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $1,374,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter valued at $374,530,000. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 90.5% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,141,516 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $272,663,000 after acquiring an additional 542,432 shares during the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc raised its stake in Verisk Analytics by 45.8% during the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 1,342,721 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $320,722,000 after buying an additional 422,002 shares during the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado raised its stake in Verisk Analytics by 178.5% during the fourth quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 319,341 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $76,278,000 after buying an additional 204,657 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in 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 worth $3,919,008,000 after buying an additional 170,620 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Verisk Analytics

In other news, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 1,511 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $248.88, for a total value of $376,057.68. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 52,500 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,066,200. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In related news, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 1,511 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $248.88, for a total value of $376,057.68. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 52,500 shares in the company, valued at $13,066,200. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 326 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $272.22, for a total value of $88,743.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 7,470 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,033,483.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 2,237 shares of company stock worth $572,739 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Verisk Analytics Stock Down 0.2 %

VRSK traded down $0.49 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $278.12. 391,191 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 843,735. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.94, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a current ratio of 1.09. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $265.30 and its 200 day moving average price is $246.85. The company has a market cap of $39.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 51.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.44 and a beta of 0.84. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a one year low of $215.32 and a one year high of $282.21.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 1st. The business services provider reported $1.63 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.52 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $704.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $699.07 million. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 268.19% and a net margin of 28.45%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.29 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.55 EPS for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Stockholders of record on Saturday, June 15th were paid a $0.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 14th. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.56%. Verisk Analytics’s payout ratio is presently 29.10%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $255.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $238.00 to $241.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Finally, 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 note on Tuesday, June 25th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $258.54.

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.