Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC Trims Holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC cut its stake in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 61.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,139 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 1,824 shares during the quarter. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $314,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in VRSK. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in Verisk Analytics by 8.4% during the third quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,245 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $334,000 after buying an additional 97 shares in the last quarter. Huntington National Bank grew its position in Verisk Analytics by 5.2% during the third quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 2,163 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $580,000 after buying an additional 107 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV grew its position in Verisk Analytics by 15.3% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 35,908 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $9,622,000 after buying an additional 4,767 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc grew its position in Verisk Analytics by 5.7% during the third quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 44,290 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $11,868,000 after buying an additional 2,374 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC grew its position in Verisk Analytics by 7.1% during the third quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 2,258 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $605,000 after buying an additional 150 shares in the last quarter. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on VRSK shares. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on Verisk Analytics from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $283.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Barclays lowered Verisk Analytics from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $310.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective 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. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Verisk Analytics has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $299.33.

Verisk Analytics Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of VRSK stock opened at $288.58 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $40.48 billion, a PE ratio of 45.02, a P/E/G ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 1-year low of $217.34 and a 1-year high of $306.10. The business has a 50-day moving average of $287.95 and a 200 day moving average of $280.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.82.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last issued its earnings results 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. The company had revenue of $735.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $733.55 million. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 274.13% and a net margin of 32.65%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate 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 will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.62%. This is a boost 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 approved a share buyback plan on Wednesday, February 26th that permits the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the business services provider to buy up to 2.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Verisk Analytics news, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of the 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 sale, the insider now owns 9,066 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,557,155.96. This trade represents a 18.89 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the 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 sale, the director now owns 13,786 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,066,180.70. This trade represents a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 5,648 shares of company stock worth $1,613,047. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.