iA Global Asset Management Inc. Sells 3,031 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

iA Global Asset Management Inc. decreased its stake in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 9.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 28,147 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 3,031 shares during the quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $7,587,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VRSK. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,407,133 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,919,008,000 after buying an additional 170,620 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter worth about $374,530,000. TD Asset Management Inc grew its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 6.1% in the 1st quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 1,424,606 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $335,822,000 after purchasing an additional 81,885 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in Verisk Analytics by 90.5% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,141,516 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $272,663,000 after purchasing an additional 542,432 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GUARDCAP ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd lifted its stake in Verisk Analytics by 1.1% in the first quarter. GUARDCAP ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd now owns 1,137,069 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $268,041,000 after buying an additional 12,231 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $262.31, for a total transaction of $52,462.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 16,608 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,356,444.48. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 326 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $272.22, for a total value of $88,743.72. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 7,470 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,033,483.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $262.31, for a total value of $52,462.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 16,608 shares in the company, valued at $4,356,444.48. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 726 shares of company stock worth $196,682 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VRSK has been the subject of several recent research reports. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $255.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $278.00 to $263.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Wells Fargo & Company raised Verisk Analytics to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Verisk Analytics from $250.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 25th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $282.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Verisk Analytics has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $273.54.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

Verisk Analytics stock opened at $272.82 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $38.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.90, a PEG ratio of 3.40 and a beta of 0.84. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a one year low of $215.32 and a one year high of $287.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.86, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $271.52 and a 200-day moving average price of $251.80.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The business services provider reported $1.74 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.64 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $716.80 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $722.45 million. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 32.03% and a return on equity of 252.11%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.51 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.56 EPS for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Sunday, September 15th will be issued a $0.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.57%. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.10%.

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.