Voya Investment Management LLC Trims Stake in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Voya Investment Management LLC lessened its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) by 10.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 244,526 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 29,654 shares during the quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC owned approximately 0.17% of Verisk Analytics worth $67,264,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in VRSK. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC increased its position in Verisk Analytics by 48.6% during the 4th quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 6,212 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,711,000 after purchasing an additional 2,031 shares during the period. Syon Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter worth approximately $217,000. Sompo Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. Sompo Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 2,730 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $752,000 after acquiring an additional 90 shares in the last quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 18,061 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $4,975,000 after purchasing an additional 615 shares during the period. Finally, MGO One Seven LLC purchased a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter worth $1,439,000. 90.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently issued reports on VRSK shares. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $297.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Barclays downgraded Verisk Analytics from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and set a $310.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $300.00 target price on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Bank of America began coverage on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. They issued an "underperform" rating and a $280.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $298.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Verisk Analytics currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $297.40.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 300 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $295.38, for a total transaction of $88,614.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 16,665 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,922,507.70. This represents a 1.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $295.36, for a total transaction of $348,229.44. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 13,786 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,071,832.96. The trade was a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 3,837 shares of company stock worth $1,121,618. 0.46% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:VRSK traded up $2.36 during trading on Monday, hitting $288.41. The company's stock had a trading volume of 777,142 shares, compared to its average volume of 773,754. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 12 month low of $217.34 and a 12 month high of $306.68. The firm has a market cap of $40.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.99, a P/E/G ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.82. The company has a 50-day moving average of $291.74 and a 200-day moving average of $284.84.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) last released its 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 company had revenue of $735.60 million during 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, sell-side analysts expect that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a $0.45 dividend. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.62%. This is an increase from Verisk Analytics's previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. Verisk Analytics's payout ratio is presently 26.87%.

Verisk Analytics declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback 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 buy up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company's management 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.