Prudential Financial Inc. Trims Holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Prudential Financial Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 19.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 73,054 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 17,758 shares during the period. Prudential Financial Inc.’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $20,121,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Sanctuary Advisors LLC increased its position in Verisk Analytics by 188.2% in the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 25,637 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $7,454,000 after acquiring an additional 16,742 shares during the period. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter worth $212,000. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd increased its stake in Verisk Analytics by 479.1% in the 3rd quarter. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd now owns 16,853 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,516,000 after buying an additional 13,943 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its position in Verisk Analytics by 14.4% during the 3rd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 70,667 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $18,936,000 after buying an additional 8,884 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Royal London Asset Management Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 16.9% in the 3rd quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 63,217 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $16,940,000 after acquiring an additional 9,145 shares during the period. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently issued reports on VRSK shares. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $297.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Verisk Analytics from $283.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Barclays lowered Verisk Analytics from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $310.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Friday, January 10th. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Verisk Analytics from $298.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 price target on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $299.33.

Verisk Analytics Trading Up 1.5 %

NASDAQ:VRSK opened at $292.03 on Thursday. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 52-week low of $217.34 and a 52-week high of $306.10. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $290.13 and a 200-day simple moving average of $281.08. The company has a market capitalization of $40.96 billion, a PE ratio of 45.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The business services provider reported $1.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $735.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $733.55 million. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 32.65% and a return on equity of 274.13%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.62%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This is a boost from Verisk Analytics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio is 26.87%.

Verisk Analytics announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Wednesday, February 26th that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the business services provider to buy up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $295.36, for a total transaction of $348,229.44. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 13,786 shares in the company, valued at $4,071,832.96. The trade was a 7.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.06, for a total transaction of $595,428.66. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 9,066 shares in the company, valued at $2,557,155.96. The trade was a 18.89 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 5,648 shares of company stock valued at $1,613,047. Corporate insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

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.