NS Partners Ltd Sells 1,058 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

NS Partners Ltd reduced its position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) by 0.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 124,561 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 1,058 shares during the period. Verisk Analytics comprises 1.4% of NS Partners Ltd's holdings, making the stock its 23rd largest position. NS Partners Ltd owned about 0.09% of Verisk Analytics worth $34,308,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. FMR LLC lifted its stake in Verisk Analytics by 6.5% in the 3rd 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 during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in Verisk Analytics by 6.8% in the 3rd 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 during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Verisk Analytics by 2.7% in the 4th 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 during the last quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich lifted its stake in Verisk Analytics by 11.6% in the 4th 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Two Sigma Advisers LP lifted its stake in Verisk Analytics by 46.7% in the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 614,831 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $164,750,000 after purchasing an additional 195,700 shares during the last quarter. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $297.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $283.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Barclays cut Verisk Analytics from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and set a $310.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and set a $300.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $299.33.

Insider Transactions at Verisk Analytics

In related news, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $272.81, for a total value of $321,642.99. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 13,786 shares in the company, valued at $3,760,958.66. This represents a 7.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.06, for a total value of $595,428.66. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 9,066 shares of the company's stock, valued at $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 ninety days, insiders sold 5,648 shares of company stock worth $1,613,047. Corporate insiders own 0.40% of the company's stock.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

Shares of VRSK stock traded down $2.50 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $288.03. The company had a trading volume of 740,413 shares, compared to its average volume of 729,514. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.82. The firm has a market capitalization of $40.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $287.13 and its 200 day moving average price is $279.86. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a one year low of $217.34 and a one year high of $306.10.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The business services provider reported $1.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 analysts' expectations of $733.55 million. Equities analysts expect that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current fiscal 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 issued a dividend of $0.45 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This is an increase from Verisk Analytics's previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.62%. Verisk Analytics's dividend payout ratio is 26.87%.

Verisk Analytics announced that its board has authorized a share buyback 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 repurchase up to 2.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

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.