Two Sigma Advisers LP Sells 51,700 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Two Sigma Advisers LP reduced its position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 8.4% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 563,131 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 51,700 shares during the period. Two Sigma Advisers LP’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $155,103,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings 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 purchasing an additional 75 shares during the period. Centricity Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Roxbury Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter worth $29,000. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter worth $30,000. Finally, Kestra Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter worth $32,000. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on VRSK shares. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $295.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, May 12th. Robert W. Baird upped 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. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Bank of America started coverage on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $280.00 target price for the company. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $297.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $302.40.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

VRSK stock opened at $309.57 on Monday. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 52 week low of $245.01 and a 52 week high of $312.82. 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 company has a fifty day simple moving average of $293.14 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $288.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $43.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 48.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The business services provider reported $1.73 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.68 by $0.05. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 32.65% and a return on equity of 274.13%. The business had revenue of $753.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $750.31 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.63 earnings per share. Verisk Analytics’s quarterly revenue was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be given a dividend of $0.45 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.58%. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 26.35%.

Verisk Analytics announced that its board has initiated a stock 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 buy up to 2.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verisk Analytics

In other news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $295.38, for a total value of $88,614.00. Following the completion of 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $285.86, for a total transaction of $337,028.94. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 13,786 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,940,865.96. This trade represents a 7.88% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 8,363 shares of company stock worth $2,529,187 over the last 90 days. 0.46% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.