Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. Sells 6,729 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. reduced its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) by 17.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 32,967 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 6,729 shares during the period. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P.'s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $9,080,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina boosted its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 38.0% during the fourth quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 88,365 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $24,338,000 after buying an additional 24,340 shares during the period. Capital Fund Management S.A. boosted its position in Verisk Analytics by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Capital Fund Management S.A. now owns 69,973 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $19,273,000 after acquiring an additional 1,367 shares during the last quarter. Scotia Capital Inc. grew its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 17.4% during the 4th quarter. Scotia Capital Inc. now owns 29,815 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $8,212,000 after acquiring an additional 4,417 shares in the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 4.3% in the fourth quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 24,838 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $6,841,000 after purchasing an additional 1,013 shares during the last quarter. Finally, APG Asset Management N.V. lifted its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 92.8% in the fourth quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. now owns 172,635 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $45,919,000 after purchasing an additional 83,079 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.00% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VRSK has been the topic of several recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $297.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Bank of America started coverage on Verisk Analytics in a report on Thursday, April 10th. They set an "underperform" rating and a $280.00 target price on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $300.00 price target on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $298.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Verisk Analytics has a consensus 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 business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $295.38, for a total value of $88,614.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 16,665 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,922,507.70. The trade was a 1.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $295.36, for a total transaction of $348,229.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 13,786 shares in the company, 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. Insiders sold a total of 3,837 shares of company stock worth $1,121,618 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.46% of the company's stock.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

VRSK traded up $8.35 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $292.70. The company's stock had a trading volume of 643,356 shares, compared to its average volume of 775,950. The company's 50-day moving average is $292.06 and its 200-day moving average is $284.39. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 52 week low of $217.34 and a 52 week high of $306.68. The firm has a market cap of $40.96 billion, a PE ratio of 45.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.82.

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

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a dividend of $0.45 per share. The ex-dividend date was 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 yield of 0.61%. Verisk Analytics's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.87%.

Verisk Analytics announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase 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 purchase up to 2.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically 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.