Martin Investment Management LLC Sells 3,885 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Martin Investment Management LLC lowered its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 12.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 27,847 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 3,885 shares during the period. Verisk Analytics accounts for approximately 2.1% of Martin Investment Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 16th largest position. Martin Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $7,670,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 8.1% during the 4th quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 5,210,080 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,435,012,000 after acquiring an additional 392,270 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Verisk Analytics by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,811,563 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,051,300,000 after purchasing an additional 19,423 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter valued at $526,676,000. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,270,745 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $350,001,000 after purchasing an additional 39,544 shares during the period. Finally, Amundi lifted its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 52.4% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 1,252,532 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $351,226,000 after buying an additional 430,719 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:VRSK opened at $298.61 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $41.89 billion, a PE ratio of 46.59, a PEG ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $291.57 and a 200-day moving average of $281.87. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 12 month low of $217.34 and a 12 month high of $306.10.

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

Verisk Analytics declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase 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 stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a $0.45 dividend. This is an increase from Verisk Analytics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.60%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.87%.

Insider Activity at Verisk Analytics

In other Verisk Analytics news, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $272.81, for a total transaction of $321,642.99. Following the sale, the director now owns 13,786 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,760,958.66. The trade was a 7.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.06, for a total value of $595,428.66. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 9,066 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,557,155.96. The trade was a 18.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 5,648 shares of company stock valued at $1,613,047. 0.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VRSK has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $283.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Verisk Analytics from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $297.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Barclays cut Verisk Analytics from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $310.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $300.00 price target on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Six equities 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.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $299.33.

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.