Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund Sells 385 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund lessened its position in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 8.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,217 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 385 shares during the quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $1,130,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Legal & General Group Plc grew its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 7.4% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 1,618,266 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $436,204,000 after purchasing an additional 111,364 shares during the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc grew its stake in Verisk Analytics by 5.5% during the 2nd quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 1,502,614 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $405,030,000 after buying an additional 78,008 shares during the last quarter. GUARDCAP ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd grew its stake in Verisk Analytics by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. GUARDCAP ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd now owns 1,137,069 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $268,041,000 after buying an additional 12,231 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in Verisk Analytics by 8.4% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,103,628 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $297,491,000 after buying an additional 85,202 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Verisk Analytics by 6.7% in the second quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 613,185 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $165,284,000 after buying an additional 38,258 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $271.33, for a total transaction of $54,266.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 15,808 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,289,184.64. This trade represents a 1.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Verisk Analytics Trading Down 1.9 %

NASDAQ VRSK opened at $280.80 on Monday. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 1 year low of $217.34 and a 1 year high of $291.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.82. The company has a market capitalization of $39.65 billion, a PE ratio of 43.81, a P/E/G ratio of 3.52 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a fifty day moving average of $271.31 and a 200 day moving average of $267.04.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $1.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.07. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 274.13% and a net margin of 32.65%. The business had revenue of $725.30 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $722.19 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.52 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.39 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.56%. Verisk Analytics’s payout ratio is 24.34%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Evercore ISI restated an “in-line” rating and set a $279.00 price target on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $285.00 to $301.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $268.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $243.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Verisk Analytics from $263.00 to $276.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $285.80.

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.