Graham Capital Management L.P. Lowers Stock Holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Graham Capital Management L.P. cut its holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 69.6% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 2,040 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 4,665 shares during the period. Graham Capital Management L.P.’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $562,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of VRSK. Manchester Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 468.8% in the fourth quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 91 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Centricity Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter worth approximately $28,000. Roxbury Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, Kestra Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the company. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $297.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Bank of America assumed coverage on Verisk Analytics in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $280.00 price target for the company. UBS Group raised their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $295.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Verisk Analytics from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $320.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $302.40.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Verisk Analytics news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $295.38, for a total value of $88,614.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 16,665 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,922,507.70. This trade represents a 1.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO David J. Grover sold 5,705 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.68, for a total value of $1,755,314.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 12,937 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,980,456.16. This represents a 30.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 8,363 shares of company stock valued at $2,529,187 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.46% of the company’s stock.

Verisk Analytics Trading Up 2.0%

Shares of VRSK opened at $307.36 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $42.99 billion, a PE ratio of 47.95, a P/E/G ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 12 month low of $245.01 and a 12 month high of $312.82. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $292.76 and its two-hundred day moving average is $287.75. 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 (NASDAQ:VRSK) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The business services provider reported $1.73 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.68 by $0.05. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 274.13% and a net margin of 32.65%. The company had revenue of $753.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $750.31 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.63 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be paid a $0.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.59%. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.35%.

Verisk Analytics announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase program on Wednesday, February 26th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in 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 generally an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

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.