Shell Asset Management Co. Lowers Stock Holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Shell Asset Management Co. lowered its stake in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 4.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,491 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 147 shares during the period. Shell Asset Management Co.’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $962,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VRSK. Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC now owns 22,334 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $6,151,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada raised its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 18.7% in the 4th quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 1,094,817 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $301,544,000 after purchasing an additional 172,767 shares during the last quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Verisk Analytics by 6.0% in the 4th quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 59,611 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $16,419,000 after purchasing an additional 3,355 shares in the last quarter. Raiffeisen Bank International AG bought a new position in Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter worth about $70,005,000. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC grew its position in Verisk Analytics by 19.2% during the 4th quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 180,647 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $49,756,000 after purchasing an additional 29,037 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have issued reports on VRSK shares. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price 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. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $295.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, May 12th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Verisk Analytics from $320.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Bank of America started coverage on Verisk Analytics in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $280.00 price target for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $302.40.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $295.38, for a total value of $88,614.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 16,665 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,922,507.70. This trade represents a 1.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $285.86, for a total value of $337,028.94. Following the transaction, the director now owns 13,786 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,940,865.96. This trade represents a 7.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 8,363 shares of company stock valued at $2,529,187. 0.46% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

Shares of VRSK opened at $309.57 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $293.14 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $288.15. The firm has a market cap of $43.30 billion, a PE ratio of 48.29, a P/E/G ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 1-year low of $245.01 and a 1-year high of $312.82.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The business services provider reported $1.73 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 analysts’ expectations of $750.31 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.63 earnings per share. Verisk Analytics’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th will be issued a $0.45 dividend. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. Verisk Analytics’s payout ratio is 26.35%.

Verisk Analytics declared that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Wednesday, February 26th that permits the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the business services provider to repurchase up to 2.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

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.