Groupama Asset Managment Sells 1,834 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Groupama Asset Managment reduced its position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) by 66.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 935 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 1,834 shares during the period. Groupama Asset Managment's holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $258,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in VRSK. Public Sector Pension Investment Board boosted its holdings in 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. Erste Asset Management GmbH bought a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics in the third quarter worth $423,000. Benjamin Edwards Inc. grew its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 233.9% in the third quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 1,666 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $447,000 after purchasing an additional 1,167 shares in the last quarter. Hilltop Holdings Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics in the third quarter valued at $864,000. Finally, IHT Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 57.9% during the 3rd quarter. IHT Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,399 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $649,000 after purchasing an additional 880 shares during the period. 90.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VRSK has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Verisk Analytics from $283.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $300.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $298.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Barclays lowered shares of Verisk Analytics from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and set a $310.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $299.33.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

NASDAQ:VRSK traded up $12.31 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $289.34. The company had a trading volume of 1,927,970 shares, compared to its average volume of 780,443. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $292.35 and its 200-day moving average price is $282.84. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 52-week low of $217.34 and a 52-week high of $306.68. 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 market capitalization of $40.59 billion, a PE ratio of 45.14, a P/E/G ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.88.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 26th. The business services provider reported $1.61 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.01. The firm 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%. As a group, research analysts expect that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

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

Verisk Analytics declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase 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 shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction on Monday, April 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $285.86, for a total value of $337,028.94. Following the sale, the director now owns 13,786 shares in the company, valued at $3,940,865.96. 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 available at this link. Also, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, January 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.06, for a total transaction of $595,428.66. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 9,066 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,557,155.96. This trade represents a 18.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 5,648 shares of company stock valued at $1,628,433. Insiders own 0.40% of the company's stock.

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.