ClearAlpha Technologies LP Sells 1,872 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

ClearAlpha Technologies LP trimmed its stake in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) by 64.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,022 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 1,872 shares during the period. ClearAlpha Technologies LP's holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $281,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of VRSK. Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 8.1% in the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 5,210,080 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,435,012,000 after buying an additional 392,270 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its stake in Verisk Analytics by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,691,016 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,292,047,000 after purchasing an additional 72,045 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,811,563 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,051,300,000 after acquiring an additional 19,423 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $526,676,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 9.6% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,654,826 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $455,789,000 after purchasing an additional 144,599 shares in the last quarter. 90.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on VRSK. BMO Capital Markets boosted 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. Bank of America began coverage on Verisk Analytics in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. They set an "underperform" rating and a $280.00 target price for the company. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $300.00 price target on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Barclays downgraded shares of Verisk Analytics from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and set a $310.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Verisk Analytics from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company 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 company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $297.40.

Insider Transactions at Verisk Analytics

In other news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 300 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $295.38, for a total transaction of $88,614.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 16,665 shares in the company, valued at $4,922,507.70. This represents a 1.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $295.36, for a total transaction of $348,229.44. Following the transaction, the director now owns 13,786 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,071,832.96. This trade represents a 7.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 3,837 shares of company stock worth $1,121,618. 0.46% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Verisk Analytics Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ:VRSK traded down $1.81 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $288.24. The company had a trading volume of 717,761 shares, compared to its average volume of 774,054. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.82. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a one year low of $217.34 and a one year high of $306.68. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $291.99 and a 200 day moving average price of $284.43. The company has a market capitalization of $40.34 billion, a PE ratio of 44.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.88.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The business services provider reported $1.61 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $735.60 million during 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%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a $0.45 dividend. This is an increase from Verisk Analytics's previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.62%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. Verisk Analytics's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 26.87%.

Verisk Analytics declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback plan on Wednesday, February 26th that permits the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the business services provider to repurchase up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often an indication that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

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.