Unigestion Holding SA Has $27.46 Million Position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Unigestion Holding SA decreased its position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) by 12.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 99,692 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 14,659 shares during the quarter. Verisk Analytics comprises approximately 1.6% of Unigestion Holding SA's investment portfolio, making the stock its 24th biggest position. Unigestion Holding SA owned about 0.07% of Verisk Analytics worth $27,458,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in VRSK. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter valued at $526,676,000. Amundi boosted its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 52.4% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 1,252,532 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $351,226,000 after acquiring an additional 430,719 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter valued at about $110,094,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its position in Verisk Analytics by 31,634.6% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 394,461 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $108,646,000 after acquiring an additional 393,218 shares during the period. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its position in Verisk Analytics by 8.1% during the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 5,210,080 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,435,012,000 after acquiring an additional 392,270 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 90.00% of the company's stock.

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Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Barclays lowered shares of Verisk Analytics from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and set a $310.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered 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. Bank of America assumed coverage on Verisk Analytics in a report on Thursday. They issued an "underperform" rating and a $280.00 price objective for the company. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on Verisk Analytics from $298.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $300.00 price target on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $297.40.

Insider Activity at Verisk Analytics

In other news, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the insider now owns 9,066 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,557,155.96. This represents a 18.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $294.95, for a total value of $347,746.05. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 13,786 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,066,180.70. This 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 5,648 shares of company stock worth $1,628,433 in the last quarter. 0.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

NASDAQ VRSK traded up $6.24 during trading on Friday, hitting $292.02. 320,452 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 781,825. The company has a market cap of $40.96 billion, a PE ratio of 45.48, a P/E/G ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.88. 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 fifty-two week low of $217.34 and a fifty-two week high of $306.68. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $292.24 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $282.99.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) last released 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. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 274.13% and a net margin of 32.65%. The company had revenue of $735.60 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $733.55 million. Research analysts expect that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a $0.45 dividend. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.62%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Verisk Analytics's previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. Verisk Analytics's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.87%.

Verisk Analytics declared that its board has initiated a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, February 26th that permits the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the business services provider to reacquire up to 2.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally an indication that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

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.