Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. Has $18.46 Million Stock Position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) by 3.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 67,030 shares of the business services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 2,020 shares during the quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd.'s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $18,462,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. D.A. Davidson & CO. grew its position in Verisk Analytics by 4.4% in the third quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 7,453 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,997,000 after buying an additional 317 shares during the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 14.4% in the 3rd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 70,667 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $18,936,000 after acquiring an additional 8,884 shares during the last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board raised its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 8.8% during the third quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 6,183 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,657,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares during the period. PEAK6 Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics during the third quarter valued at $705,000. Finally, Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp boosted its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 6.4% in the 3rd quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp now owns 9,504 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $2,547,000 after purchasing an additional 575 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.00% of the company's stock.

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Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have issued reports on VRSK. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $298.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target 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. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $283.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Verisk Analytics from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $300.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research 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 company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $299.33.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 9,066 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,557,155.96. The trade was a 18.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $272.81, for a total value of $321,642.99. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 13,786 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,760,958.66. The trade was a 7.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 5,648 shares of company stock valued at $1,613,047. 0.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

Verisk Analytics stock traded up $0.99 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $298.61. 621,595 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 759,694. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $291.20 and a 200 day moving average of $281.66. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 12 month low of $217.34 and a 12 month high of $306.10. The firm has a market cap of $41.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.59, a PEG ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 26th. The business services provider reported $1.61 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.01. The business 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 anticipate that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a $0.45 dividend. This is an increase from Verisk Analytics's previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.60%. Verisk Analytics's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.87%.

Verisk Analytics declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 26th that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the business services provider to reacquire up to 2.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company's board 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.