APG Asset Management N.V. Increases Stock Holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

APG Asset Management N.V. increased its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) by 92.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 172,635 shares of the business services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 83,079 shares during the quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. owned about 0.12% of Verisk Analytics worth $45,919,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter valued at $526,676,000. Amundi increased its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 52.4% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 1,252,532 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $351,226,000 after purchasing an additional 430,719 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter worth $110,094,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in Verisk Analytics by 31,634.6% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 394,461 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $108,646,000 after purchasing an additional 393,218 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its position in Verisk Analytics by 8.1% during the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 5,210,080 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,435,012,000 after purchasing an additional 392,270 shares during the period. 90.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have commented on VRSK. Bank of America started coverage on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Thursday. They set an "underperform" rating and a $280.00 price objective for the company. 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 note on Thursday, February 27th. Barclays cut Verisk Analytics from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and set a $310.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $300.00 target price on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective 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 research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Verisk Analytics currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $297.40.

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Verisk Analytics Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ:VRSK traded up $3.12 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $295.00. 180,851 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 778,018. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.82. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a twelve month low of $217.34 and a twelve month high of $306.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $41.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.02, a PEG ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.88. The business's fifty day moving average price is $292.30 and its 200-day moving average price is $283.30.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) 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 business had revenue of $735.60 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $733.55 million. On average, research analysts predict that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a dividend of $0.45 per share. This is a positive change from Verisk Analytics's previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.61%. Verisk Analytics's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.87%.

Verisk Analytics announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 26th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the business services provider to purchase up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.06, for a total transaction of $595,428.66. Following the sale, the insider now owns 9,066 shares in the company, valued at $2,557,155.96. This represents a 18.89 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $285.86, for a total value of $337,028.94. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 13,786 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,940,865.96. The trade was a 7.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 5,648 shares of company stock valued at $1,628,433. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.