Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado Sells 9,257 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado decreased its holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 4.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 223,916 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 9,257 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $61,673,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter valued at about $212,000. Norris Perne & French LLP MI boosted its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Norris Perne & French LLP MI now owns 61,889 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $17,046,000 after acquiring an additional 1,126 shares during the period. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 68.7% during the 4th quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 105,331 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $29,011,000 after acquiring an additional 42,883 shares during the period. Oak Ridge Investments LLC grew its position in Verisk Analytics by 5.3% during the 4th quarter. Oak Ridge Investments LLC now owns 41,155 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $11,335,000 after acquiring an additional 2,089 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Avanza Fonder AB purchased a new position in Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,957,000. Institutional investors own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Verisk Analytics

In related news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $295.38, for a total transaction of $88,614.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 16,665 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,922,507.70. The trade was a 1.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $295.36, for a total transaction of $348,229.44. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 13,786 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,071,832.96. This represents a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 3,837 shares of company stock valued at $1,121,618 in the last three months. 0.46% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $280.00 price target for the company. Barclays cut shares of 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. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $298.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Verisk Analytics from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $297.40.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

VRSK stock opened at $286.05 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.82. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 1 year low of $217.34 and a 1 year high of $306.68. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $291.74 and a 200 day moving average of $284.73. The company has a market cap of $40.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.63, a PEG ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.88.

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 the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $733.55 million. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current year.

Verisk Analytics announced that its board has approved a stock buyback program on Wednesday, February 26th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the business services provider to repurchase up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.63%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This is a boost from Verisk Analytics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. Verisk Analytics’s payout ratio is 26.87%.

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.