Artisan Partners Limited Partnership Has $132.32 Million Stock Holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Artisan Partners Limited Partnership lessened its holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) by 5.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 480,417 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 27,099 shares during the period. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership owned approximately 0.34% of Verisk Analytics worth $132,321,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the 3rd quarter worth about $834,000. D.A. Davidson & CO. increased its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 4.4% during 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 in the last quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 10.0% during the third quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 16,381 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $4,390,000 after buying an additional 1,489 shares in the last quarter. Blueshift Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics in the third quarter valued at approximately $391,000. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.00% of the company's stock.

Remove Ads

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Verisk Analytics Trading Up 0.3 %

NASDAQ VRSK traded up $0.99 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $298.61. The company's stock had a trading volume of 621,595 shares, compared to its average volume of 759,296. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $291.57 and a 200 day moving average of $281.87. 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, Inc. has a twelve month low of $217.34 and a twelve month high of $306.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $41.89 billion, a P/E 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 results on Wednesday, February 26th. The business services provider reported $1.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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%. Equities research analysts forecast that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a $0.45 dividend. 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. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.60%. Verisk Analytics's dividend payout ratio is 26.87%.

Verisk Analytics announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 26th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the business services provider to purchase up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity at Verisk Analytics

In related 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 value of $595,428.66. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $272.81, for a total transaction of $321,642.99. Following the sale, the director now owns 13,786 shares in the company, valued at $3,760,958.66. This trade represents a 7.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 5,648 shares of company stock worth $1,613,047 in the last ninety days. Company 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.