California Public Employees Retirement System Decreases Stock Position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

California Public Employees Retirement System lessened its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) by 1.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 663,571 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 11,412 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System owned about 0.47% of Verisk Analytics worth $182,767,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Public Sector Pension Investment Board lifted its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 8.8% in the 3rd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 6,183 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,657,000 after buying an additional 500 shares during the period. PEAK6 Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics in the 3rd quarter valued at $705,000. Captrust Financial Advisors increased its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 86,008 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $23,047,000 after acquiring an additional 1,247 shares during the period. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec raised its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 121.8% in the 3rd quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 83,428 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $22,355,000 after acquiring an additional 45,812 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Erste Asset Management GmbH purchased a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics during the 3rd quarter worth $423,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.00% of the company's stock.

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Insider Buying and Selling at Verisk Analytics

In other Verisk Analytics news, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.06, for a total value of $595,428.66. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 9,066 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,557,155.96. This trade represents a 18.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $294.95, for a total value of $347,746.05. Following the transaction, the director now directly 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 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.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

Shares of VRSK traded down $20.10 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $284.99. The company had a trading volume of 2,102,297 shares, compared to its average volume of 767,182. The stock has a market capitalization of $39.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.46, a PEG ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.88. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 52-week low of $217.34 and a 52-week high of $306.68. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $292.64 and a two-hundred day moving average of $282.26. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 26th. The business services provider reported $1.61 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $735.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $733.55 million. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 274.13% and a net margin of 32.65%. On average, analysts expect that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Verisk Analytics announced that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Wednesday, February 26th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the business services provider to reacquire up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were given a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Verisk Analytics's previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. Verisk Analytics's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 26.87%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently issued reports on VRSK shares. Barclays lowered 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. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target 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. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $300.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Verisk Analytics from $283.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Verisk Analytics from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $299.33.

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.