iA Global Asset Management Inc. Cuts Holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

iA Global Asset Management Inc. decreased its position in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 0.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 26,892 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 164 shares during the period. iA Global Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $7,407,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 6.5% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,618,971 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,237,700,000 after purchasing an additional 283,653 shares in the last quarter. Amundi grew its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 52.4% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 1,252,532 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $351,226,000 after purchasing an additional 430,719 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 6.8% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,231,201 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $331,476,000 after purchasing an additional 78,376 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 822,644 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $226,581,000 after purchasing an additional 21,494 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich grew its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 11.6% during the fourth quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 782,819 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $231,532,000 after purchasing an additional 81,604 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on VRSK. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $298.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $300.00 price target on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. 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. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $297.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Verisk Analytics has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $299.33.

Verisk Analytics Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ VRSK opened at $287.68 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. The company has a market cap of $40.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.88, a PEG ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 1 year low of $217.34 and a 1 year high of $306.10. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $288.95 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $280.63.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. The business had revenue of $735.60 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $733.55 million. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 32.65% and a return on equity of 274.13%. Research analysts anticipate that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.63%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This is an increase from Verisk Analytics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. Verisk Analytics’s payout ratio is currently 26.87%.

Verisk Analytics declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, February 26th that allows the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the business services provider to purchase up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $294.95, for a total transaction of $347,746.05. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 13,786 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,066,180.70. The trade was a 7.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.06, for a total transaction of $595,428.66. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 9,066 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 5,648 shares of company stock valued at $1,613,047. Corporate insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

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.