Principal Financial Group Inc. Sells 2,559 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Principal Financial Group Inc. decreased its position in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) by 0.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,138,109 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 2,559 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.80% of Verisk Analytics worth $304,968,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics during the second quarter valued at about $31,000. Chilton Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $34,000. Rothschild Investment LLC bought a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics in the second quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Kings Path Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics during the second quarter valued at approximately $46,000. Finally, Crewe Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Verisk Analytics during the first quarter worth approximately $49,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.00% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Verisk Analytics news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $271.33, for a total value of $54,266.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 15,808 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,289,184.64. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

NASDAQ VRSK traded up $5.15 during trading on Friday, hitting $285.49. The company's stock had a trading volume of 232,428 shares, compared to its average volume of 790,506. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 52 week low of $217.34 and a 52 week high of $287.21. The firm has a market cap of $40.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.50 and a beta of 0.86. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $269.62 and a 200 day moving average price of $263.70. 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 announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $1.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.07. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 32.65% and a return on equity of 274.13%. The business had revenue of $725.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $722.19 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.52 earnings per share. Verisk Analytics's revenue was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.55%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. Verisk Analytics's dividend payout ratio is presently 24.34%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Verisk Analytics from $285.00 to $301.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $263.00 to $276.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $275.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Verisk Analytics to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $268.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $285.80.

Verisk Analytics Company 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.